Gohan Enters High School
by Kyough
Summary: He couldn't decide. Should he date the cheerful and bubbly Erasa, who holds a secret behind that smile? Or should he fall in love with Lime, the girl that he had saved? Perhaps, he might even fall in love with the nosy Videl, who wants to expose his true identity. That is for you to find out. ::A Gohan x Videl story, with a dash of bubbly Erasa and a spice of Lime (the character)::
1. Chapter One: Sharpner Busts a Ball

Gohan Enters High School

Disclaimer: I do **not** own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and all the characters related to it. All of them belong to Akira Toriyama. However, for characters that you don't recognize who are not in the Dragon Ball Wikia, it would be safe to say that they belong to me despite how unoriginal their names may be.

Also, I may get some information wrong here and there, but please excuse me. I am not as well informed as I should be. Do point out these mistakes and I'll try my best to either revise them or leave them be for consistency. Also, some characters may not act like how they should as the plot progresses. This is to give them more character. They are, after all, human beings. Personalities and emotions change, just like how Videl starts off suspicious of Gohan but then falls in love with him in the canon.

Reviews are very much welcome and would be much appreciated. Thank you for reading my first fanfic. I hope you enjoy the story.

Notes:

"This is speech."

_"This is thinking."_

On names:

In Eastern Culture, most names start with the surname before the name. For example, in China, Japan and Korea, names would be like so:

· Qin Shi Huang

· Okazaki Tomoya

· Park Su-Min

In Western Culture, however, names would start with well… the name first, then the surname. For example, Jack Frost, etc.

In the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z Universe, there is a mix of both cultures and it is clear that Goku's family follow the Eastern Culture with their naming sense such as Son Goku and Son Chichi along with their dressing manner (examples would be Chichi wearing a traditional Chinese dress called cheongsam - Qi Pao in Mandarin - and Goten being initially seen wearing a changsam).

Therefore, we will follow the format of using both cultures' naming sense where Gohan's surname is in front of his name while Videl's surname is after her name.

**Chapter One: Sharpner Busts a Ball**

It was another beautiful morning in Satan City. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, how could anyone possibly not be affected by this cheerful and bright atmosphere? Yet, here was our favourite half-Saiyan - Gohan - sitting at the edge of his desk with nothing but problems in his mind.

On the second seat beside him, the source of his problems was staring, no, glaring at him intently with her blue eyes. Oblivious to what she was really thinking, her blonde friend Erasa nudged her and, in her rather high pitched voice, whispered to her, "So I guess this is a first for you, huh?"

Her thought process broken and snapping back to reality, Videl Satan could only frown as she asked her best friend, "What in the world are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't deny it. I know you've turned every guy making their moves on you down and you've never had a boyfriend before but judging from how you've been looking at Gohan-cutie since the day he started school, I'm guessing you've finally fallen head-over-heels in love," Erasa sighed in the beauty of the thought of his best friend finally showing signs of interest in someone for the first time in her life.

This got her an annoyed glare from Videl as she angrily retorted back to clear any misunderstandings, "Don't be ridiculous, Erasa. I'm just curious, that's all. I think Gohan's hiding something from us."

Beside her, a blonde, long-haired, muscular teen chuckled.

"Yeah, don't be ridiculous, Erasa. Everyone knows that Videl here and I are going to go out sooner or later," he said coyly as he moved to wrap his arms around Videl's shoulders.

Sensing what the teen was doing, Videl sent her elbow flying at the teen's ribs making him double up in pain before he could even touch her.

"Don't even think about it, Sharpner," Videl huffed. She seriously hated the guy. Why she remained friends with him was still a mystery, even to her.

Clutching his ribs in pain, Sharpner managed to groan out, "Don't be like that, babe. I know you have the hots for me."

This earned him another elbow attack from Videl. The attack connected with his mouth this time and Sharpner thanked his lucky stars that he did boxing or he was sure that his teeth would have been knocked out of their sockets already.

Unbeknownst to them, Gohan's incredible sense of hearing managed to catch the full conversation which didn't help at all in reducing his worries.

Thankfully for Gohan, the professor, Dr. Stein-Ein, Ph.D. could hear the faint buzzing of the conversation in the back of the class and shouted across the room in his German accent, "You three at the back, silence! You would do well to learn from Mr. Son."

Sharpner, just to keep his image as a jock and an alpha-male intact, shot back, "Yeah, yeah… learn from Nerd-boy who scored a hundred percent in all of his entrance exams."

Unfortunately for him, Dr. Stein-Ein wasn't a pushover unlike the other lecturers in Orange Star High School and with that comment, he earned himself not just one day of detention but detention for a week.

"What bull!" exclaimed Sharpner. "I'm the school's ace boxing member; I have important after-school club activities!"

"Settle down, young man. You best learn not to argue or I'll fail you in this class."

Knowing that he couldn't afford being kicked out of school, lest he face the wrath of his parents, Sharpner finally decided to keep his mouth shut. Orange Star High School may have been a public school, but it was one of the state's best schools even making it to the top three alongside two private and expensive schools. It wasn't a surprise then that many students chose to go to this school therefore competition for a spot in the school was stiff. Furthermore, despite being a public school, the school had facilities that would have been exclusive only to private schools if not for Mr. Satan's funding. Indeed, some of you might be wondering why despite being rich, Videl Satan would go to a public school instead of a private one. This is because private schools were much stricter with their school regulations and, as Videl fought crime along with the police, the only school that she could go to that provided good education and was still willing to bend their rules for her was Orange Star High School.

Satisfied with Sharpner's response, Dr. Stein-Ein cleared his throat and continued with his lecture, "Ahem. As I was saying before I was interrupted; the structure of this molecule is very complex. In fact, even I have some trouble understanding it," he admitted.

The lecture continued in full swing for another half an hour before the bell signaling the start of lunch break rang. As soon as it did, a very relieved Gohan hurriedly packed up his books and notes. To him, school was boring. Everything that was being taught to him, he already learned when he was seven years old. However, his mother - Chichi, insisted that he needed to attend school because he couldn't get to university without high school qualifications no matter how much he had already achieved through home schooling. To him, there were only three things to look forward to in school: recess, lunch break, and going home.

Just as he was wondering what food his mother cooked for him, Erasa tapped on his arm, "Hey, cutie. Want to join us for lunch again today?" she asked flirtingly.

Of course, having nobody else to spend lunch with, he immediately agreed and, for the third time since he started school three days ago, he found himself joining Videl, Erasa and Sharpner for lunch.

* * *

Sharpner was apprehensive. He didn't want his image as Mr. Hot-and-Popular to be destroyed by hanging out with the new geek but Erasa wouldn't have any of it. It was the first time since they were children that Erasa asked another person to join their circle of friendship. The three of them were known as the popular kids. Him being Mr. Satan's star pupil and ace of the boxing club; Erasa being the hottest chick in their school; and Videl being Mr. Satan's daughter.

He couldn't understand why Erasa would stick her neck out for the nerd.

_"Heck, she doesn't even invite her boyfriend to join us on our table, yet here she was asking Brains to join us. Worse still, Videl doesn't seem to mind," _he thought as he cursed Gohan silently.

In fact, he noticed that she had been paying an unusual amount of attention to Gohan to the point that he was jealous. "_Videl's MY woman,"_ he thought.

With that, he decided to show the new student who's boss.

As soon as they left the classroom, he pushed Gohan beside a locker but something unexpected happened. Gohan didn't even budge a centimetre. Surprised and angered by the situation, he couldn't contain himself and shouted, "HOLD IT, BRAINS!"

Gohan, Videl and Erasa, along with everybody else near them turned to look at Sharpner. Taking a step closer towards Gohan, Sharpner clutched a fistful of Gohan's clothes and tried lifting him up into the air to intimidate him, but Gohan remained rooted to the ground. _"What is he made of? He weighs a ton!"_ he exclaimed in thought.

Thankfully, people didn't notice that he tried lifting Gohan up and, using his height advantage, Sharpner looked down on Gohan and, his voice dripping with malice said, "Do not come near my Videl, got it?"

Gohan blinked stupidly, not understanding the situation. In his innocent mind, he didn't know that Sharpner was trying to intimidate him. All he knew was that Sharpner was one of the first friends he made that were the same age as he and the concept of bullying never crossed his mind.

Sharpner smiled cruelly. "_Good, he must be scared out of his pants."_

He was feeling rather proud of himself, thinking that he scared Gohan away from his love interest and he didn't see Videl kick him in between his legs from behind.

"OOF!" he grunted before his knees buckled, causing him to collapse on the floor. "Who the hell did that?!"

"Me!"

Videl had enough. She couldn't tolerate anyone oppressing the weak therefore, seeing her childhood friend bullying Gohan who, to her, seemed like a weak teenager, she snapped and kicked Sharpner in the balls without restraint.

Indeed, she kicked Sharpner so hard that there was a faint but audible, crunch that everyone could hear. Sharpner just looked at her in disbelief and was about to say something when the pain caused him to collapse.

"And just for the record, I was never your woman. I would rather kill myself than become that."

Someone screamed while some were shouting, "Someone call the nurse!" in panic.

However, Videl couldn't care less. She felt that Sharpner had deserved it and walked off while shouting to Erasa and Gohan, "Come along, you two!"

Gohan, being too nice, tried to help Sharpner up, but Erasa locked her fingers with his and dragged him forcefully along to the cafeteria.

* * *

When they entered the cafeteria, Erasa finally let go of Gohan and they both found Videl angrily sitting on a far-away table. Erasa hurriedly joined her best friend leaving a very stunned Gohan by the cafeteria entrance.

"Gohan, what are you waiting for?" Videl said, looking at Gohan who was staring at his hand stupidly at the entrance.

_"Wow. Her hands are so soft,"_ Gohan thought as Erasa was the first girl who held his hand apart from his mother and Bulma.

Erasa could see what Gohan was doing and blushed slightly. _"He's so cute!"_ she thought before she shook her head. _"No, no, Erasa! You can't think of him that way. First of all, you already have a boyfriend and two; your best friend already likes him."_

Her thoughts were interrupted by Gohan joining them.

"Wow, Videl. Did you really have to kick Sharpie in the nuts?" asked Erasa.

"No, but it might finally teach him a lesson." Videl replied back arrogantly.

Gohan, scratching the back of his head in a very Goku-like fashion, with sweat dripping from his forehead decided to join the conversation. "I'm pretty sure you crushed one of his nuts, Videl."

Videl only folded her arms and, without remorse, declared, "Serves him right!"

Gohan and Erasa could only look at each other with fear creeping into their hearts.

_"She's just like my mother."_ Gohan thought.

_"Whoo! Scary~ I know she beats up criminals all the time, but I never thought she'll hit one of her own friends. I better watch out not to tease her too much about Gohan." _Erasa concluded.

"Anyway," Videl continued, trying to change the topic. "So Gohan, have you heard anything about the new super hero? He calls himself the Great Saiyaman."

Gohan, who had just threw out a capsule that contained his lunch and started eating, spat out the food in his mouth in surprise, spraying Videl with food particles in the process.

"I, uh… no… wha-?" he stumbled around his speech trying to find the right words to reply back as he slowly regained his composure from the shock.

Not in the least bit happy at being sprayed food at, Videl accepted a handful of tissues offered to her by Erasa and she started wiping herself clean. As Gohan observed her while he tried to figure out what to say, he could swear that veins popped out of her forehead and they looked like they were about to explode the same way as they looked on Piccolo's as she gave him one of her signature glares.

"Ooh, you mean that new hero with the mask?" Erasa chipped in bubbly.

"That's the one," Videl confirmed.

"I don't know much about him, but his fashion sense is horrible! I think the Golden Fighter is so much more hotter than him, but then again he could be a total cutie under that helmet."

Videl grunted not really paying much attention to what Erasa just said. The truth was that she had a suspicion that the Golden Fighter and the Great Saiyaman were one and the same and, if her suspicions were correct, they could have something to do with Gohan.

"Well he d-does s-seem like a good f-fighter," Gohan finally said, not missing the fact that Erasa just insulted his costume which he took great pride on. _"And my fashion sense is amazing, thank you very much!"_

"Well, it certainly seems so!" chirped Erasa, closing the topic as she stood up. "Videl, I'm grabbing myself a salad, ugh, I need to watch my weight," she added. "Do you want anything?"

"Just get me a 'Set A' meal, Erasa," she said dismissively as she continued to give Gohan one of her I-Can-See-Through-You glares. _"Just you wait, Son Gohan. I will find you out," _she vowed.

* * *

_End of Chapter One_

_To be continued..._


	2. Chapter Two: Gohan - Sing!

**Chapter Two: Gohan – Sing?!**

Chapter Notes:

"Kami" in Japanese means "God", however, in the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z dubs, Kami is referred to as "Guardian of the Earth".

For those of you who don't know, Kami is the previous Guardian of the Earth before Dende. He is also Piccolo's other half before they fused.

I highly doubt that the humans are informed that God (Kami) was replaced by Dende. Also, I don't think that the humans know that this entity is known as the Guardian of the Earth apart from the Z-fighters and their circle.

As such, in this fanfiction, assume that people know this being as 'God' instead of Guardian of the Earth, Kami or Dende. Hence, only the Z-fighters and their friends will say, "Dende help me". The rest of the humans will just say, "Oh my God," etc.

* * *

Lunch break was over and the next period was music. Fortunately for Gohan, he was free from Videl's intense glares and questioning in this period because she thought it was irrelevant to learn music when all she was interested in is becoming a crime fighter or a hero like her father.

He was, however, stuck in the class with Erasa and he didn't know which was more mentally exhausting; Videl trying to interrogate him if he was the Golden Warrior AND the Great Saiyaman or Erasa trying to find out whether he had a thing for Videl.

"Poor Sharpie," commented Erasa.

Gohan just observed silence. He didn't know whether Erasa was being flirty or whether she genuinely cared about her childhood friend Sharpner.

"I heard he was being hospitalized," she said.

Gohan could only laugh goofily. "Aha, aha, ahahaha…"

The thought about being kicked in the nuts must be painful, he thought, but thankfully he never had such an experience since he could almost literally have Balls of Steel, knowing how much he got kicked or punched in his nether regions during his little spars with his younger brother Goten and still could not feel pain. Gohan supposed the pain could be similar to when someone grabbed a Saiyan's tail, so he could empathize with Sharpner, however.

Erasa pouted.

"That's not funny, Gohan. I'll have you know that I swear I heard a crunch when he got kicked and if I'm not wrong, he might have busted his… you know."

Erasa blushed. Even though she was a flirt, she still felt uncomfortable talking about sexual matters with the opposite sex. In fact, she could confirm with pride that she was still a virgin despite having gone through so many boyfriends already. Her reason was she wanted to keep her chastity for the man that she was going to marry. She was a romantic in that sense. She had, however, kissed before and done activities such as petting and blow-… but this is a teen rated fanfic and any more would classify it as mature so we're going to stop describing it at that.

Just in time, the music teacher Mr. Hovenbeet entered the room and, without a word, sat down by the piano and pounded four chords.

"TAN TAN TAN TAN~!"

This always meant that he was signaling the class for silence and the students were more than happy to comply. Unlike other tedious subjects like mathematics or any of the sciences, the students actually enjoyed music classes and so, without any complaints, they observed silence and let Mr. Hovenbeet start his lecture.

"Good afternoon, my young students," Mr. Hovenbeet greeted the class. "Today, will be a continuation of our study about harmony."

He ranted on about music theory and the class waited in boredom for him to finally let them get some practice when he realized something.

"Ah, yes! Mr. Son, you don't have a group yet, do you?"

Before Gohan could answer, the bubbly Erasa locked her arm with his and raised her hand while saying, "No worries, Sir. You can group him with me."

Now, Mr. Hovenbeet is rather deaf so he turned his head right and shouted, "What? Speak up, I'm a little bit deaf on one ear!"

Erasa sighed and shouted the same sentence twice before Mr. Hovenbeet finally understood what she was saying. "Hmm, my dear Erasa, but don't you already have a group member?"

"Yes sir, but before Gohan joined, there were an even number of people in the class but now there is an odd number, so one group has to have three people and I volunteer in taking Gohan into our group."

"Hmm, very well. Gohan, you may join Erasa and Angela's group," he told Gohan before continuing. "Right. Now, it is important that you find out for yourselves what musical harmony is about. Therefore, for your project, you are required to research about musical harmony and perform as a group to show to me that you can practice what you learn. The written research is to be handed in next Friday and will be worth 40% of the project while the remaining 60% will be for the performance. Do note that the performance won't be until before the Golden Week so you'll have plenty of time to practice. I expect you all to put a good amount of effort into this project as it WILL be worth 10% of your total grades by the end of the year," he added sternly.

With that, Gohan was forced to join Erasa and Angela in their group. As Angela was a rather quiet girl (or so he thought – she was just aloof), he didn't pay her much attention. What a big mistake this would be later on, but that's another matter that will be told later. For now, they huddled around a table and started discussing about their project.

"So Gohan, do you know how to play any musical instrument?" Erasa asked him.

"Gee, no. From young, my mother told me to study all the time, so that's all I ever did. Haha," Gohan laughed it off as a joke while doing Goku's signature scratch-the-back-of-my-head thing. This made him wonder why he took music as one of his subjects in the first place, but he guessed it was too late now to worry about that.

"Well shoot, how are we supposed to do the practical part of the project then?"

"Hm, we could make Gohan sing," suggested Angela. "I know you play the violin well, Erasa and I can play the piano."

"Aha!" Erasa exclaimed. "Angela, you're a genius!"

While Erasa hugged Angela ecstatically, at Kami's Lookout, two Namekian's in particular sweated profusely.

"Dende, are you sure you don't want to do anything about this?" the taller of the two green aliens enquired in a deep, gruff voice.

Dende, the shorter of the two nodded his head, though from his looks, he seemed uncertain.

"It is necessary for life to run its course. If I intervene too much, it may distort the natural order of things," he said determinedly.

Behind them, a dark, rather plump man asked, "What seems to be the problem?"

"Well, Popo," the tall Namekian started. "Let's just say that Gohan is a little terrible at singing."

Dende frowned at that statement. "That would be an understatement," he muttered under his breath remembering the nightmarish time when Bulma held a karaoke session out of boredom while they were in Namek and were being hunted down by Vegeta as well as Freeza's men. His sensitive ears still felt like they were bleeding whenever he recounted the experience.

Still, while the conversation progressed at Kami's Lookout; Gohan, Erasa and Angela decided to meet up at Erasa's house during the weekend to do the research part of the project.

* * *

Music ended and there was only one class that remained.

Most students looked forward to the next class for two reasons: one, it was one of their favourite classes where they won't have to put in much effort and; two, immediately after that class, they were free to enjoy the rest of their day.

Our young half-Saiyan however was _not_ looking forward to it. For him, P.E. was tough - not that he was physically unfit to enjoy P.E., but because he was, perhaps, _too_ fit. In fact, two days ago during his first day in school, he had already made a serious blunder with controlling his strength. Jumping twenty-feet into the air and floating for a while, he managed to gain everyone's suspicion, but fortunately, most of them seemed to accept his excuse of using a new pair of shoes that promoted air cushions.

Everyone except one.

Videl came out of her Aeronautics class and headed for the changing rooms. P.E. was only held every Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays and so, she was looking forward to spending her second P.E. lesson with Gohan.

_"Now, let's see you do more unbelievable things, Gohan,"_ she mused. She knew that Gohan wouldn't be able to make another lame excuse like the last time if he showed another impossible feat.

When she arrived at the school gym, she was greeted by the sight of multiple blue floor mats spread throughout the room. The teacher, Mr. Neggerschwarze, welcomed the students with zeal.

"Today," he began in a voice that sounded like there was something stuck in his throat. "We will be celebrating Satan City – our city's – win against West City in soccer with a score of 1-0 in the World Cup Finals. To commemorate this event, all students are required to play soccer while I look in the mirror and admire my beautiful muscles," he coughed. "Forget I said the last part. So, eh, students, pick your teams. Videl you're captain of Team A and Sharpner-"

"Sharpner's decommissioned, Sir," one of the students pointed out.

Mr. Neggerschwarze's face fell. "Oh," he grumbled. "Well then, I guess Ruler can be Team B's captain then. Right, now off you go. And don't call for me until the end of the period."

As Mr. Neggerschwarze left for the school building to do God-Knows-What, Videl and Ruler picked out their teammates. Of course, Videl chose Erasa and let Gohan be chosen into the opposing team so that she could go up against him and discover what else he was capable of doing.

"Hey, Gohan, do you know how to play soccer? Wait, have you even played soccer before?" asked Ruler. He didn't want the nerd to bring down his team, but he knew that Gohan was capable after seeing him catch that impossible ball in baseball the other day. _"He said that was a fluke, well… we'll just have to get him to do more flukes then."_

"Uh, no… not really," Gohan admitted while mentally giving himself a prep-talk about controlling his strength better. "I've read about it in books, though!"

Ruler barely acknowledged with a, "Cool, awesome," before assigning him to be the goalie thinking that he would be useless in any other position.

This worked out great for Gohan because it was a safe position where he could just observe the game and not show too much of his strength.

The game progressed and, unfortunately for Videl, Gohan played it safe throughout the period without showing off anything spectacular. _"Still," _she thought, _"I better not let my guard down. I know he's hiding something."_

* * *

As school ended, Gohan snuck around to the rooftop before pressing the red button on his watch effectively transforming himself into the Great Saiyaman before he shot off to the skies. He made a mental note to thank Dende that there were no major criminal activities going on that afternoon or he would have gone home with a major headache.

After flying past the lush scenery, Gohan finally managed to reach his humble, dome-shaped home in a record time of ten minutes. Not bothering to knock on the door, he went inside the house announcing his arrival.

"Hey, mum!" he called out to his mother happily while noticing the delicious fragrance of her cooking wafting into the entrance of the house.

"Oh. Hi, son! How was school today?" Chichi asked as Gohan entered the kitchen.

"It was alright. Mmm, that smells good!" Gohan remarked.

"Stop pinching the food, Gohan!" scolded his mother as soon as she noticed that Gohan was nicking the food with his bare hands. "And what did I teach you about table manners!"

Chichi would have been more than happy to hit Gohan with the pan, but unfortunately, she was using it for cooking so all she could do was raise her voice at the growing teen.

"Geez, just three days in school and look at you! Mixing with those city kids sure have given you bad some bad influence, young man."

"Sorry, mum. Hey, where's Goten?"

"He's outside playing," Chichi said, finally calming down. "Could you do me a favour? Before you begin doing your homework – and I expect you to do it! – will you go and check on the radishes for me?"

Despite the fact that the Chichi was the daughter of the Ox King, she and Goku decided to decline any financial help from her father and decided to live off of Goku's previous World Martial Arts earnings. Normally, this would have had them well off, but seeing how much Goku, Gohan and Goten ate every day, there was always a nagging feeling at the back of Chichi's mind about running out of money, so she decided to wisely invest some of that money into starting a radish farm which Goku maintained while he was alive. Not only did this help them with their income, it also helped them sustain their lifestyle. This however, was just enough for them to get by. The Son family was neither poor nor were they rich and Chichi knew that she had to be careful to make sure that her sons helped her maintain the radish farm now that her beloved husband was gone.

Gohan acknowledged and dashed outside to check on the radishes.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Satan household, Videl was practicing her punches in their in-house gym. While her punches were all connecting magnificently with the punching bag, her thoughts remained elsewhere as she remembered fighting crime alongside the Great Saiyaman the other day.

_"He can fly and lift very heavy objects that normal humans can't. I dare say it's like watching one of those fighters at the Cell Games - but how can that be possible? My father claims to have beaten Cell and he tells everyone that all of those were all tricks involving wires, light and explosives," _she contemplated the thought. _"Maybe I can ask Gohan? That's like killing two birds with one stone!"_

Videl was delighted with herself. _"That's a stroke of genius!"_

_"Being 'The Man Who Defeated Cell' has really gotten over Daddy's head over the past few years and him bringing along all those women home really gets to my nerves."_

In a way, Videl felt both sorry and yet relieved that her mother had died. She was sorry that she had gone and she missed her dearly, yet she was relieved that she didn't have to live with the current Hercule Satan whom, to her, is nothing more than a big headed womanizer.

"Right," she said aloud. "Tomorrow, I'm going to corner Gohan and ask him about this."

With that, she took a shower and went to bed, drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

_End of Chapter Two_

_To be continued..._


	3. Chapter Three: Increasing Suspicions

Chapter Three: Increasing Suspicions Based on Hunger

Chapter Notes:

Custom Surnames:

Forgive my lack of imagination but since some characters in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z were not given surnames and, because the majority of their names are puns, I will take the liberty of giving them a surname based on the pun which they were named from.

Examples of these would be:

· Erasa which is a pun on 'eraser', therefore, her full name will be Erasa Eraser.

· Sharpner which is a pun on 'sharpener', therefore, his full name will be Sharpner Sharpener.

· Krillin which is a play on Japanese words where his name contains characters that mean 'chestnut' and 'monk'. From this, his daughter's name: Marron also has something to do with 'chestnut' (and if I'm not mistaken, it means chestnut itself). Therefore, Krillin and his family will be given the surname "Chestnut" (e.g. Krillin Chestnut, Eighteen Chestnut and Marron Chestnut).

On Strength:

Gohan's and the Z-fighters' Strength – In the anime, when Gohan as the Great Saiyaman fights off robbers, hijackers and Videl, it's always shown that he dodges them and, for some reason (anime logic), they can keep up with his speed and also, they don't die when he punches them.

In my opinion, since Gohan and the Z-fighters are so strong, even a simple poke should be strong enough to make any human fly – including Videl. If you have watched Dragon Ball, when Goku and Krillin were kids, they were able to push people out of the ring in the World Martial Arts Tournament in the preliminary rounds with just a tap of their fingers. That was when they were trained by Master Roshi. Now, they have of course grown A LOT stronger than that.

Furthermore, in the anime, Videl is definitely stronger than her father, yes. But that doesn't mean that she's THAT strong. In my opinion, Videl is definitely, DEFINITELY weaker than Chichi as compared to other fanfictions out there.

You: "But, Kyough, Videl learned how to fly! Chichi can't do that."

Oh, I'm sure Chichi can learn how to fly easily if she wanted to. Don't forget, Chichi was able to keep up with Goku in the World Martial Arts Tournament back then – and that was after Goku had been trained by Kami, meaning she is definitely stronger than Videl and has better handling of Ki compared to her (not to mention she can do impossible martial arts feats that Videl can't – e.g. jumping several feet into the air). I'm assuming her father, the Ox-King, being a student of Master Roshi, trained her in a modified variation of carrying 50kg turtle shells and doing crazy cross-country milk deliveries while being chased by dinosaurs to gain strength.

To me, from watching the anime, I am of the opinion that the only training Videl got from her father would be lifting weights (which, at the most would be 90kg bench-presses), boxing and other martial art forms. So, I conclude that Videl is strong, but definitely not stronger than Chichi, and that any Z-fighter can defeat anyone with just a flick of their finger without having to pointlessly dodge them.

**A/N:** With that, please enjoy the chapter. And thank you for reading and bearing with the slow pace. I know it's a bit slow, but I'm not planning a short story and I do plan to update quite frequently so it's all properly paced.

* * *

Dinner at the Eraser household was always a quiet affair.

Erasa's father: Rubber Eraser was a successful and wealthy businessman. Her mother, Vinyl Eraser, on the other hand was nothing more than a housewife.

Her mother's devotion to her father was so great that Erasa couldn't bear even being in the same room as her. This was because Erasa's father, being wealthy, always brought home different women and had more often than not abused his wife's kindness. Indeed, Erasa knew that the problem lies not with her mother, but with her father for being a womanizer. However, she ignored this fact because, though it broke her heart to see her mother being taken for granted, she had already argued with her on several occasions yet Vinyl never acknowledged her point of view and continued blindly following her husband. It was also the fact that Rubber never really talked to his family much because his marriage to his wife was arranged between their parents and the fact that he pretty much didn't want to have Erasa that there was not much interaction between any of them.

"Thanks for the food," Erasa said as soon as she finished the dinner that was given to her.

Whenever she could, Erasa would avoid being around her parents and there was a large, empty hole in her heart. She was never happy at home and had lived a difficult childhood until she met her two best friends Videl and Sharpner. She knew then that she didn't want them to needlessly worry for her, so she took on a cheerful and bubbly personality which carried on towards others outside of her family. She also tried to fill the hole in her heart devoid of parental love by going out with various men, but she had it set in stone never to fall in love with a man so deep that she'd end up like her mother.

It was when she reached her room that she checked her phone.

You have: 1 New Message

Opening the message, she read:

:: Hey, babe.

I'm going to visit your house this weekend along with some mates. I hope you don't mind.

Love you,

Durago ::

Forgetting that Gohan and Angela were supposed to come over during that time to work on their music project with her, she hastily replied: "Sure, I'll see you then xoxo"

* * *

Thursday morning came by in a blur and Gohan found himself being woken up by a loud 'Klunk!'

"Wake up, Gohan, you're going to be late!" screeched Chichi while being poised ready to hit her son again with her notorious frying pan.

Gohan was clearly not a morning person and a quick glance at his alarm clock told him that he only had fifteen minutes left before school started.

"Oh no! That means I only have five minutes to eat breakfast!" he exclaimed as he quickly shot out of his bed to get ready for school.

Brushing his teeth and washing his face took him two minutes and he told himself that he didn't have time to shower not that he considered he needed one since he took one right before going to sleep.

"Grah! Only three minutes left for breakfast!" he complained as he dashed down to the kitchen to cram as much food as possible in his stomach within that time.

Unfortunately for him, his younger brother Goten – who pretty much idolized him – was already sitting down at the table and, as soon as he caught sight of him, he immediately ran up to him excitedly screaming, "Gohan! Gohan!"

"Hey, what's up squirt?" he said while patting Goten's spiky hair. To his disappointment, there were only crumbs left on the plates when he sat down.

"Guess what? I took the Flying Nimbus to visit Chobi!"

Gohan frowned. "Uh, Goten, you wouldn't know what happened to the food, do you?"

"Oh, that? I ate all of it since you didn't seem lik-"

"You WHAT?!"

Gohan couldn't believe it. Sure, Goten had a large appetite, almost as large as his, but that was no excuse for his younger brother to eat his food.

Chichi who had just come down to the kitchen after clearing up Gohan's bedroom said, "What's going on, boys?"

"Mum, he ate all the food!"

"Calm down, Gohan. Don't yell at your younger brother like that," Chichi said calmly though she could clearly feel the subtle rise of temperature in the room.

"Nobody touches my food," Gohan cut off pointedly, nearly turning Super Saiyan.

"I-I'm sorry, big brother."

Goten was genuinely sorry. It was an innocent mistake on his part to eat all the food and Gohan knew it. He knew he couldn't stay angry at his younger brother for long especially when he was giving him one of his puppy dog eyes. That, added to Goten's very similar looks to his father, made him almost instantly forgive him.

He sighed. "Fine, but next time don't eat all the food and remember to leave me some, alright?"

Chichi smiled. At least her son had a big heart.

"Gohan, you're going to be late for school," she nagged. "Go! And when you come back home, I'll make sure to cook you an extra-large dinner to make up for this breakfast."

"Really? All right! Thanks, mum. Love you, bye!"

With that, Gohan dashed out of the house somewhat slightly appeased. The fact that he didn't have breakfast however didn't change, and so his mood for the day was miffed which carried on until his hunger was satiated by lunch.

* * *

It was annoying.

Gohan grit his teeth as he landed in front of the bank. _"Darn it, why is there so many bank robberies in this damned city?"_

He was on his way to school when his Saiyan hearing caught the sounds of police sirens. He was already in a bad mood because he skipped having breakfast (though, he wasn't mad at Goten anymore), and now to top it all off, his conscience wouldn't allow him to ignore the cries of the people so, of course, he just had to help.

Normally a very polite and kind boy, Gohan's attitude would do a complete 180 degrees whenever he was angry – and going hungry makes him angry though, in this case, he was only slightly miffed. Unlike his father, Goku, who becomes slightly weakened when he's hungry, Gohan's hunger fuels his anger which in turn causes his power levels to rise. As the saying goes: 'a hungry man is an angry man' indeed.

In fact, Gohan was so angry that he completely skipped his Saiyaman entrance poses and just quickly proceeded to ward off the robbers with a flick of his fingers to their foreheads. _"I hope none of their skulls got damaged in the process,"_ he thought.

As soon as he rounded up the criminals, he tried to immediately rush off without basking in the praises of the public, but he was stopped by a loud, commanding voice.

"Wait!" the voice demanded.

_"Aw, great,"_ he thought, recognizing the voice. _"Can't she leave me alone in peace?"_

Gohan was really not looking forward to being pestered right now. On top of being hungry, he was already late by five minutes. He knew that if he kept his late-coming up, no matter how good his grades were, the teachers would eventually complain and they might even take him off the roll which would definitely upset his mother.

He turned around to see a glaring Videl.

"Well, hello there!" he greeted her airily in his fake voice. "Fancy seeing you here. Well, it was nice seeing you. I have to go - plenty of things to do. Bye!"

Videl just kept up her glare as she folded her arms across her chest and said sarcastically, "Hold it. I have a few questions to ask from you, Mister Great Saiyaman."

Gohan wasn't really in the mood to deal with her at the moment, so, when a loud grumble of his stomach echoed audibly, he quickly pointed to the sky and said, "Hey, look! A giant flying dinosaur!" before flying off at a high speed so that Videl couldn't follow him around in her jet copter.

"Huh? Where?"

In spite of how serious and seemingly sharp Videl was, she still fell for the oldest trick in the book. Feeling like kicking herself, Videl consoled herself by recounting the loud stomach grumble from the Great Saiyaman which brought a devilish, knowing smile across her lips. _"Well, what do you know? Super heroes get hungry too, huh? You haven't seen the last of me, Saiyaman."_

* * *

Class had already begun in full swing for ten minutes when Gohan entered the classroom. His homeroom teacher, Ms. Mademoiselle, was a strict, bespectacled blonde who was quite full of herself being only in her early twenties.

"And vhy are you late, zyoung man?" she demanded, while peering at Gohan through her horn-rimmed glasses.

Too hungry to come up with a lame excuse, Gohan just wanted to be left alone and reprimanded her.

"Well, you're our homeroom teacher and if you actually bothered to know your students' details, you'll know that I live in the 439 East District area. Can't you _please_ give me a bit of a grace period? It's hard enough to wake up early as it is."

Ms. Mademoiselle's face fell in forlorn. It was true that Gohan had a point, and she knew that it took five hours by car or three hours by the fastest jet copter to travel from Orange Star Senior High to the boy's address. It was also a fact among the teaching staff that Gohan held the impossible record of scoring a hundred percent in all of his entrance exams. Still, she was not used to being talked back to, so she screamed, "Varning, Mr. Son! You get tvoo varnings and every subzequent vone after zat vill be detention. Is zat clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. And you have a point. Very vell, I'll write a note to ze ozer teachers to give you a _ten _minute grace every firzt period sinze you live so far away. But no more than zat. Understood?" Then she added, "And as your homeroom teacher, I've been hearing from ze ozer teachers about your frequent visits to the toilet. While zat is not a problem, I've been told zat you don't come back to class afterwards. Living far away does not excuse zat, Mr. Son. I hope I don't hear of zis again."

Glad that he practically got himself a ten minute grace period every morning, Gohan was more than happy to comply before taking his usual seat beside Erasa.

"Wow, she chewed you out good, huh?" she stated with her usual, high pitched, girly voice.

The words "I know, right?" haven't even left Gohan's mouth when Videl burst into the room.

"Sorry I'm late, Ms. Mademoiselle," she panted before rushing to sit beside her best friend, Erasa.

"Ees all good, Ms. Satan. We all know zat you have been contributing to ze public peace by helping zose useless policemen."

"Hey, girl. Fighting crime as usual? What was it this time, a hostage taking or a bank robbery?"

"Bank robbery," Videl curtly replied before sitting down and focusing her attention to Gohan. "But I didn't make it on time. Just as I got there, the Great Saiyaman had already taken care of the situation – _with a flick of his fingers," _she added for emphasis, strongly hinting something at Gohan.

Erasa nudged her best friend and whispered to her, "So what's going on between you and Gohan-cutie?"

"I told you before, Erasa, what do you mean? There's nothing going on between me and Gohan."

Erasa rested her head on her hands and said dreamily, "Whatever you say, Videl. But I know there's a reason why he always disappears after you run off to fight crimes. In fact, you came in just after he did this morning. How do you explain that?"

"He does, huh?" Videl noted this information down in her memory. Normally, Erasa just made baseless assumptions, which she was fine with most of the time until - on rare occasions - they got out of hand, but today she was grateful for this piece of information.

Shrugging her shoulders, Erasa went back to listening to the teacher before she got bored and started paying more attention to her fingernails instead. She knew that her best friend won't admit to anything involving romance but she really thought that Videl and Gohan would make a good couple so she left her alone to bug her about it for another time.

It was then that the whole class heard the sound of a dying whale. Except, they were in the city and were far away from the ocean. As everyone looked around to find the source of the noise, Videl's suspicions of Gohan grew. _"I've heard that sound before. That was when I met Saiyaman this morning. I've got you now, Gohan."_

Gohan blushed crimson red. _"Oh, boy. That's embarrassing."_

After that, both Gohan and Videl paid an unusual amount of attention to the time. Both of them were eagerly waiting for lunch, but for different reasons. Gohan couldn't wait to eat his lunch while Videl was excited with the prospect of cornering Gohan at last.

The bell chimed and Gohan cleared away his books, once again beating his personal record for packing up and getting ready for lunch. In his mind, he was chanting his own personal mantra: _"Lunch, lunch, lunch, lunch, LUNCH!"_

Videl got up and tried to corner him, but Erasa had beaten her to it.

"Hey, cutie. Joining us for lunch again?"

"You bet!" Gohan exclaimed enthusiastically, before lifting Erasa up prince-charming-style and dashing off to the cafeteria.

Surprised, Erasa's mind went blank for a moment, then shifted to panic mode when she realized how fast Gohan was running. Afraid of falling down, she wrapped one arm around Gohan's neck and another went to his chest. When she was sure that she was secure, her mind recovered from the shock and finally processed what was happening.

_"Wow, this is so romantic. I've always wanted to be carried like this. This is the first time…" _she thought. It occurred to her that Gohan's neck and chest was actually very firm and muscular which contrasted from the nerd image that he projected.

"_Mmm… these muscles," _she thought, getting slightly aroused. _"Gohan, I didn't know you were hiding more than secrets underneath those baggy clothes."_

When Gohan finally reached the cafeteria, he put Erasa down on a chair and took the seat beside her, not noticing the looks from everyone in the canteen.

As soon as she was put down, Erasa's thoughts snapped back into reality and she blushed slightly. _"Oh my God, girl! You were basically thinking of having an affair from your boyfriend AND stealing the first guy your best friend fell in love with. Bad Erasa! Bad Erasa!" _she mentally scolded herself.

Meanwhile, Gohan had already begun chowing down his massive lunch and with that, his hunger was appeased and his temper gone back to normal just as Videl came racing into the cafeteria.

Panting to catch her breath, she flopped herself down on the seat directly opposite Gohan and looked at him in contempt. _"I'll never get used to watching him inhale that large amount of food."_

As usual, Erasa excused herself to join the queue to get her salad while asking if Videl wanted anything.

"Hmm, maybe a Set C this time, Erasa. Thanks, I owe you!"

Erasa just laughed and dismissed Videl's thanks jokingly. "If it's like that, then you'd have owed me many times over," she said before walking off to join the rather long queue of students battling to buy their food before it sold out.

"Gohan, I have a question to ask you."

Having just ate, Gohan's temper had subsided and he was back to his normal self. _"She always asks questions,"_ he complained.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know anything about the Cell Games?" she began accusingly, knowing that Gohan won't be able to weasel himself out of this one if he so much as answered in his usual manner. "My dad always tells me that those people were using light tricks and – "

"If that's what he says, then what else could I tell you otherwise? He's been there, I haven't." Gohan cut her off.

Gohan was still half-Saiyan and it hurt his Saiyan pride to be called a fake, especially when it was said by a weakling like Hercule Satan, but that wasn't what made him cut her off. His human side allowed him to be humble and be gracious that at least his family didn't have to deal with the publicity and the media which was good for maintaining their peaceful and reclusive lifestyle. No, what upset him was that she was basically bringing up memories of his failures which resulted in his father dying. He knew that it was Goku's choice to remain in the Other World, but he still hated himself for what happened.

Not expecting to be cut off, Videl felt that she touched a nerve and asked Gohan more kindly, "I'm sorry. Is there something wrong with what I said?"

"No, nothing. I'm sorry too, for snapping back at you like that. It's just-" Gohan hesitated for a second. "It's just that I lost my father during the Cell Games."

"That's not possible," Videl said matter-of-factly. "Everyone that was killed by Cell was revived when my dad beat him, for some reason. My dad explained it to me that it was all part of an act. A trick."

Gohan just remained silent and shook his head.

_"So this runs deeper than I thought,"_ Videl thought, while rubbing Gohan's back consolingly.

To Videl, she just started off investigating Gohan because she thought that he had some relation to the Golden Warrior and the Great Saiyaman. This was because she couldn't stand not knowing who they were when they were taking away her spotlight. It was also partially because she didn't like the fact that the Great Saiyaman was hiding his identity under (in her opinion) that ugly bucket of his. To her, if you were fighting crime, you shouldn't hide your identity under a mask otherwise you would be no different from a criminal hiding your identity. However, this time, Gohan's secrets intrigued her to the point that she was slowly making it a personal investigation about him compared to what began as an investigation of the Great Saiyaman and the Golden Warrior.

In any case, she decided to drop the matter for today seeing how upset Gohan became. She even let the matter about the coincidental stomach growl drop and told herself to hold asking him questions for another day.

_"Just you wait. I'm not done with you yet, Gohan."_

* * *

End of Chapter Three

_To be continued..._


	4. Chapter Four: Enter Lime

**Chapter Four: Enter Lime**

Chapter Notes:

The following chapter notes are based on my personal knowledge.

Milo is a chocolate-y drink which, served either hot or cold, is made with chocolate and malt powder that we drink here in Australia (at least I do). If I'm not wrong, it can be equated to Ovaltine in the United States.

Vegemite is a spread that we put on our toast. Some people like it, others don't. It depends on your taste buds, but in general, most people like it and because it's so popular, it became one of Australia's many national icons.

Lastly, thongs is the word that we use to refer to what you may call flip-flops.

**A/N:** Thank you very much for the reviews. It's very constructive and helps me reflect on my story-telling skills.

I don't plan on addressing the reviews before the start of every chapter unless I feel that I have to, otherwise I'll just take the review into consideration and work on it subtly. I know there are a lot of questions left to be answered, but they will all be explained in good time, so I hope you can hang on as I plod along writing this story on my free time (I promise that I will spend at least 30mins to 1 hour every day to write something and hopefully I don't keep you all waiting for too long).

I just want to point out that the characters' personalities are my interpretation of what I've seen and, just like you, there are times when I get frustrated by the way they act. So, I will try to breathe life into them by making them more human while at the same time keeping their dominant personality (e.g. Gohan being naïve, kind and bad at lying). There will be times when I get so engrossed with writing that I go overboard, so I would like to apologize in advance.

Just a quick reply to two reviews in particular:

SaiyaStyles: "I am pretty sure there were people who weren't sucked up like the army and were blown up, and how did they explain that act, and also the act of going to the other world, or do they not remember that?"

- I'm not as well informed as I should be since I didn't watch everything, but thank you for pointing that out. I haven't actually watched the Cell Games and it would be nice if you could tell me which episode that was then maybe I can write up a logical explanation for this in some chapter eventually as I myself can't explain why people fall for Hercule's lies so easily. It's as if they don't have eyes or their brains aren't working right.

Maximusrexmundi: "I'm behind you 100% with the strength thing. If you compare dragonball feats to anything normal humans in Gohans time can do, there's really no question.  
I'm oddly more interested in Erasa here than anything else... maybe because her character is so underutilized. I've only read maybe... 3? fics that were Gohan/Erasa and maybe a few more where she wasn't just a minor catalyst. I don't know if you've said yet what kinda story this will be (Gh/VV, Gh/E, Gh/L?) but I'm always a fan of throwing a curveball :)  
Either way, I think that little background bit on her needs polish, but is generally good. I would recommend editing it a tad to fix flow issues.  
It is also nice to see a personable Videl. Most of the time, she's characterized as a person who, under your circumstances, would have kept up the pressure even though Gohan was clearly upset. It's cool to see what you've done with her"

- Thanks, it's good that you asked. To answer your question, I've put on the summary that this is going to be a Gohan x Videl fanfic but stay tuned and see what I have in plan, just in case. Do give me ideas for fixing up Erasa's background. I'd be more than happy to comply since I agree that it can be more elaborate too. (:

With that said, thank you all for the reviews and please keep them coming. By looking at your reviews, I discovered two things. One, if I've missed out anything because I was so engrossed in writing that I forgot and two, if I wrote the story well enough to keep you wondering (while I already have some answers planned and waiting to reveal themselves in the subsequent chapters). These are definitely helpful for me in improving myself and with that, please enjoy the chapter.

* * *

The rest of Thursday came by without incident thanks to Videl's consideration of Gohan's feelings. There was no P.E. today so Gohan could relax and just sleep in class though some of the teachers wouldn't let him - until he proved to them that he could answer their questions despite not listening in class.

When the last bell chimed, Gohan was invited by Erasa – who dragged Videl along – to visit Sharpner in the hospital.

"Uh, sorry guys. I have a long journey home so…" he tried excusing himself.

"Aw, but don't you want to check on poor Sharpie?" Erasa pressed.

In the end it wasn't hard to convince Gohan to come along because his conscience wouldn't let him rest until he found out if his 'friend' was alright.

"Well, okay," he said hesitantly before adding, "But only for a few minutes, alright? I don't know what my mother will do to me if I come home too late."

"Good Gohan, and besides, if you're ever going to be late, you can just give your mother a call on my phone."

Now Gohan had lived his life reclusively until he joined Orange Star High School. His only interactions would be with the adults like Bulma and the Z-fighters and, since phone signals didn't exactly extend its reach towards the 439 East District area, he would simply fly to Master Roshi's island, Bulma's house and Kami's Lookout if ever he wanted to get in touch with the others.

Due to this, Bulma, his Godmother, made a special arrangement for the phone and TV companies to connect to the Son residence via optic fibres which ran underground because otherwise they would have had to construct signal receivers way out where Gohan lived which was not an option due to high building costs and maintenance issues.

As such, the Son residence only had access to good ol' wired telephones and cabled TV. They didn't even have access to the internet and, because of this; Gohan had never actually seen a smartphone though he had read about them in books before.

_"I guess I'll have to work out how to use Erasa's phone later on when I need it," _he told himself though luckily, he didn't have to borrow Erasa's phone until another day, which is for another story altogether.

And so, the three teens made their way to Satan General Hospital and, after asking the reception for Sharpner's room number, they made their way past the immaculate and disinfected corridors of the hospital and used to elevator to get to the 11th Floor. As soon as they were outside Sharpner's room though, they greeted by a panicked scream.

"THEY'RE NOT THERE!"

* * *

In a dark room, a young, short-haired and muscular teen smiled as he watched the pool game going on between his friends.

The teen's name was Durago, the man that Erasa called her boyfriend.

Pouring himself another cup of alcoholic drink, he smiled wickedly and said, "One more day, boys."

In the room, about four or five other teens chuckled. Their leader had definitely hooked himself a big one this time. With their absolute trust to the new drug from their supplier, they couldn't wait for the weekend to come.

* * *

Bursting into the room, thinking that there was a theft, Videl was greeted by the sight of Sharpner sitting upright in his bed with a panicked expression on his face.

"What happened, Sharpner?" she asked him.

"Y-you!" was Sharpner's shocked reply when he saw her face. "You're the reason for all of this!"

In a span of one night, Sharpner's opinion of Videl had completely changed. Instead of being his Goddess and potential girlfriend, he now viewed her as someone to hate and fear at the same time. Sharpner gave Videl a glare that could rival her own which Videl took offense at.

"Well, what are you glaring at, _Sharpie?_" she said sarcastically. "Are you going to tell us what's not there or what?"

Videl was the kind of woman that snapped and took offense at the simplest of things like when people lied to her or accused her of something. In a sense, this was very similar to Chichi who would get mad at the simplest of things like when Gohan took a break from studying to exercise a bit.

There was a brief silence where Sharpner clenched his jaws shut and hid half of his face under hospital blanket before he admitted the problem when Videl threatened to tell everyone in school about the nickname his mother calls him.

"Well, you see," he began. It was strange to see him so out of character, but his next few words explained to them soon enough the reason why.

"I was in deep sleep and in that sleep, I had a dream," he looked at Videl cautiously before continuing. "So, in that dream, me and Videl were making out – HEY WHOA! CAREFUL WITH THE IV DRIP, VIDEL!"

It took some time for Gohan and Erasa to calm Videl down before Sharpner reassured her by saying, "Sheesh. As I said it was a dream, Videl. Don't worry, I'm not after you anymore. I wouldn't want to marry such a violent woman like you. In any case, let me continue. So I was happily making out with you – in my dream, of course – when I felt a throbbing pain in between my thighs. That was when I woke up and…"

Sharpner hesitated.

"What? Spit it out already," Erasa urged him.

Sharpner gulped. "And then I looked and I saw that they weren't there."

"Oh, I'm sure your teddy bear will turn up somewhere, Sharpner. I lose mine all the time and it always finds its way back," Gohan tried to cheer his new friend up.

"Not a teddy bear, you geek. My balls! I looked between my thighs and all I could see was stitches. I can't even feel my precious gems which confirmed that they were surgically removed at some point. For now, I can't feel the pain, but I'm sure when the anesthesia wears off, I'm in for a world of pain."

"Gohan, sometimes I wonder if you're really smart," said Videl while sympathizing with an agitated Sharpner due to Gohan's naivety.

"You sleep with a teddy bear? That's so cute!" exclaimed Erasa, completely forgetting the situation. The event of Gohan carrying her during lunch was still fresh in her mind and she had to remember to give herself another mental shake.

"Besides, what is Brains even doing here? And you! You're the one that caused this. I'm a eunuch now because of you. Because of you I'm now Sharpnette. Because of you I'll never be able to pop a boner," he lamented before crying out, "Get out! Out, out, out, out, OUT!"

Seeing that Sharpner was very upset, the trio decided to leave the room and give Sharpner some space.

"Wow, I don't regret kicking Sharpner in the balls and sending him to the hospital, but I never thought I'd cause him to lose his nuts," a guilty Videl mumbled.

This time, it was Gohan's turn to cheer Videl up.

Patting her shoulders gently, he reassured her. "Don't worry about it, Videl. I'm sure Sharpner will forgive you sometime sooner or later. Besides, I'm really grateful to you for standing up for me back then."

Videl looked up at him and smiled.

"Thanks, Gohan. Even though you can be stupid sometimes, you really know how to say nice things."

Slightly, and _only very slightly_, Videl opened up a bit of herself to a man other than her father. The seed that would later on bloom into love for our young and naïve hero had been planted in Videl's heart.

Beside them, Erasa felt a mixture of emotions as she observed the two. She felt glad for her best friend and her new, good friend Gohan, because she could see the blossoming love between the two, yet she also felt another emotion in the depths of her heart: a dark emotion.

Jealousy.

She didn't know why, but she felt jealous at the developing romance between the two. _"Could it be possible that I'm falling in love with Gohan?"_ she asked herself before frowning. _"That can't be right. I'm in love with my boyfriend,"_ she counter-argued with herself. _"That's right. Maybe because I haven't seen Durago in two weeks that I long for his sweet words and his gentle touch that I'm feeling like this."_

With that, she convinced herself, _"You'll see, Erasa. Once weekend arrives and you see your baby, you'll feel right as rain."_

* * *

It was raining the next day and it was the perfect weather for our favourite half-Saiyan to sleep in.

However, a looming figure entered his room and, seconds later, Gohan woke up after being slammed violently on the back of his head with Chichi's infamous frying pan.

"Ow, mum!" he cried, though really he didn't get hurt at all.

Some of you might be asking yourselves why Goku, Gohan and Goten let themselves be treated this way by Chichi despite the fact that they were powerful enough to destroy the Earth if they wanted to. The answer is simple. All three of the Son males greatly respected Chichi.

Goku respects his wife and loves her for who she is. Before becoming a mother, Chichi was the sweetest wife known to man and she took care of Goku's every need and for that, Goku's respect and love for Chichi grew increasingly as he saw how she labored to take care of him and took time to understand and give space to all of his eccentricities. This respect and love grew even more when he saw how much she cared for their son and how she worked so hard to make sure that he got a proper education, even cooking laboriously every day to feed both his and Gohan's humongous appetites. He even agrees with Chichi that Gohan should get a proper education because, although he isn't ashamed of living a peaceful and even close to being borderline poor lifestyle, he deeply regretted not knowing more about the world (heck, he even had trouble counting despite Launch teaching him when he was around 12) and he hoped that his son would at least have an education so that he wouldn't be as clueless as him. Therefore, Goku couldn't find it in his heart to hurt Chichi because he loves and respects her so dearly.

The same goes for Gohan and Goten. Though Chichi disciplined them harshly and even hit them with the frying pan, never did the thought of fighting back come across their minds because they knew how hard their mother works for their well-being and they knew that her love for them was so great that she was constantly worried for them. They knew that every action Chichi took was what she thought was best for them and therefore, they love and respect their mother greatly.

In any case, Gohan was rudely woken up by Chichi with a hit on the head using her frying pan.

"How long are you going to sleep, Gohan? Don't be late for school!" she nagged.

Sighing, Gohan dragged his body out of bed and took care of his personal hygiene before going down to eat breakfast.

Goten and Chichi were already seated at the breakfast table when he got down and Goten was ravenously gulping down his breakfast. Chichi smiled when she saw him and asked him to take a seat.

"Morning, mum! Morning, squirt," he greeted them before sitting down to grab himself some bacon, eggs and toast.

Feeling that something was amiss, Gohan wondered aloud, "Hey, bro, what's up with the coffee?" noticing that instead of the usual milo, Goten had a half-filled mug of coffee.

Chichi chuckled and said, "Goten wanted to try taking a step into becoming an 'adult' so he wanted me to make him coffee instead of milo and guess what his reaction was?" she asked Gohan eagerly.

Halfway through chewing on his toast, Gohan's muffled reply was, "Rhat?"

This got him a stern look from his mother. "Gohan, shame on you," she said crossly. "What did I tell you about your manners?"

Gohan gulped down his food and mumbled apologetically, "Sorry, mum. So, what happened?" he asked, curiously wanting to know which of the different interesting reactions he had in mind how his younger would react to drinking coffee.

Chichi couldn't contain herself and laughed while saying, "He stuck out his tongue and scrunched up his face and said, 'Ew, it tastes yucky! Mummy, this is bad for my health!' Isn't he adorable?" she sighed as she stroked Goten's head.

Gohan laughed heartily and patted Goten's spiky hair. "He is."

Goten scrunched up his eyebrows and pouted saying, "Hey! It's not nice to make fun of others, you bullies."

There was a light hearted atmosphere and idle chatter around the breakfast table for the Son Family until Gohan got up and left for school.

"Gotta boogie. Bye, mum! Love you always. Bye, Goten!"

"Bye, big brother! Come back and play with me soon, okay?"

"Bye, son! Be sure to study hard, alright?"

And with that, Gohan sped off and flew into the rain. _"It's lucky that the Great Saiyaman suit's waterproof,"_ Gohan thought. _"I gotta remember to visit Bulma later and thank her for making me this amazing costume."_

* * *

School was a rowdier place than usual because of the students eagerly discussing their weekend plans with their friends.

Gohan arrived with ten minutes to spare for once and he mentally thanked his good friend Dende that there were no crimes that morning. He supposed that due to the rainy weather, the criminals decided to sleep in and he was slightly envious of them that they could enjoy sleeping in in the mornings.

His thanks did not go unnoticed and, somewhere in Kami's Lookout, Dende smiled.

"If he only knew what's in store for him," he said to no one in particular.

"Oh my," Mr. Popo gasped. "But of course. Valentine's day is just around the corner, isn't it?"

Dende went into a fit of giggles which earned him a glare from Piccolo.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Piccolo said. He never really understood why the Earthlings enjoyed the occasion, and has long since given up on trying to find out why.

"Ah, but Piccolo, I'm _not_ doing this. I'm only finding it entertaining knowing that the red threads of fate are intertwining and is running this course."

Piccolo grunted and said nothing more. Deep down though, he was worried for his young pupil. It wasn't that something bad was going to happen. Just that something unpleasant will rock the young half-Saiyan's world.

Back in school, Gohan soon found out the reason why Dende was laughing and why Piccolo was worried.

A series of unpleasant events did occur to him that day. First, he opened his school locker an avalanche of letters cascaded out of his locker and spilled onto the hallway. Not knowing what the letters were about, he gathered them all and stuffed them in his schoolbag before he got more stares than what he was already getting.

As soon as he reached the classroom, he opened one of the letters and read:

:: "Dear Gohan,

Ever since you started school this Monday, I was in love at first sight.

Will you please go out on a Valentine's Date with me?

Girl A" ::

He opened and read another letter and its contents were almost identical to the first one.

:: "Dear Gohan,

I'm in love with your hair! Please go out on a Valentine's Date with me.

No, better still, let's get married!

With love, xoxoxoxo

Girl B" ::

He went through all the letters because his kind hearted nature nagged at him telling him that these girls took their time to write down their feelings for him and it would be unfair if he didn't look through them at least.

When he was about halfway through reading the letters, Videl entered the classroom and sat at Erasa's seat when she noticed Gohan there.

"Morning, Gohan. You're here early today. What a surprise," she said sarcastically.

"Oh. Hi, Videl. Yeah, I couldn't believe myself either, but… here I am," he laughed while scratching the back of his head. "You're early today as well," he observed.

"Yeah, there were no crimes that needed my attention this morning, so I decided I might as well go to school and take shelter from the rain instead of being on stand-by in my jet copter."

It didn't escape Videl's notice that Gohan was early when there were no crimes and in her mind, she was already forming questions to grill him with when Erasa came in dripping water into the immaculate floor tiles.

"Hi, girl. Hi, cutie. You're both here early for once," Erasa observed.

"Hey, Erasa. Yeah, I was just talking to Gohan about that myself."

"Mmm," Gohan grunted to show them that he acknowledged their presence.

Wondering what was occupying her new friend's attention, Erasa poked her head into Gohan's business and exclaimed, "Oh my God! Wow, Gohan. I've never even received that much letters from guys this morning."

"What? What's going on?" a left out Videl wondered.

"Look at the number of love letters he got, Videl," Erasa nudged her best friend. "Looks like you've got competition!"

A mixture of shock and denial crossed Videl's face. "I've told you many times before, Erasa. I do _not_ like Gohan!"

Erasa then entangled her arms with Gohan's and looked smugly at Videl's reaction while Gohan blushed a very bright pink.

"Then it's alright if I have him, right?" she teased.

Videl didn't know why, but she was very annoyed at seeing this sight, so she folded her arms together, looked the other way and said, "Whatever."

Just as Gohan thought the situation was bad, it turned worse when the homeroom teacher entered the class.

"Settle down, class!" Ms. Mademoiselle screeched and, as soon as the class quieted down, she continued. "Now, ve haff a new student again. She did not do as vell as Mr. Son, but she has done better zan all of you otherwise. You can come in now and introduce yourself."

Entering the room, a brown haired girl with green eyes walked up beside Ms. Mademoiselle. Though her hairstyle had changed to a ponytail instead of her usual pigtails, Gohan recognized her instantly both from her facial features as well as her smell. He even recognized her voice when she spoke.

_"Oh my Dende it's –"_

"Good morning, pleased to meet you. My name is Lime."

* * *

_End of Chapter Four_

_To be continued..._


	5. Chapter Five: Mischievous Trunks

**Chapter Five: Mischievous Trunks**

Chapter Notes:

On introductions:

In Japanese, when one introduces himself/herself for the first time, more likely than not, a person will use "Hajimemashite" which directly means "It's the first time" or literally "Pleased to meet you" followed by "Yoroshiku-onegaishimasu" which means "I'll be in your care." I just thought that I would incorporate this in this fanfic.

On Lime's surname:

I'm assuming that Lime's father is Mr. Lao's son therefore making her surname Lao as well.

**A/N: **I just want to point out that I support the polygamous pairing between Bulma x Goku x Chichi, therefore, I will try to cushion my bias in the best way I can possible for the Vegeta x Bulma fans.

* * *

"Are you really Videl Satan?"

_"Oh boy, here we go again." _Videl rolled her eyes, expecting enquiries about her father and how he defeated Cell. Either that or she expected Lime to ask for her autograph because of her reputation as the city's best crime fighter.

It was immediately after Lime introduced herself that Ms. Mademoiselle asked her to occupy Sharpner's seat since he wouldn't be attending school until he had fully recovered both physically and mentally from the trauma of losing his baby seed makers.

As soon as she sat down, Erasa talked past Videl and introduced herself and Videl to Lime and, when she heard Videl's full name, Lime asked her the question which Videl was so used to being asked.

"Yeah," she replied in a bored tone.

Although took pride in being 'The Man who Defeated Cell's' daughter, she was sick and tired of fake people trying to be her friend because of the very same reason. In fact, she hated it when people befriended her for the purpose of bragging to their other friends about as though she was some prize trophy. She didn't expect Lime's reply, however.

"Wow. What's it like to be the daughter of a phony?" Lime sneered.

"_Excuse me?"_

Videl Satan was offended. She suspected that her father was lying about defeating Cell, but she had no proof yet and so, no matter how much she hated being lied to; she couldn't bring herself to dislike her own father until she had proof which is why she was so obsessed with finding out who the Golden Fighter was so that she could corner him and interrogate him. For now, however, she still prided herself as Mr. Satan's daughter and that pride was wounded by Lime's response.

"You heard me," Lime said with disdain. "What's it like being the daughter of a liar and a weakling?"

"Now you look here, missy," Videl huffed while standing up in anger. "What gives you the right to call my father a liar?" she half shouted.

"Vat are you doing, Ms. Satan? Sit down!" screeched Ms. Mademoiselle before continuing with her lesson, "Now… Alice says to ze mouse, 'Ou est ma chatte?'"

Lime snickered and whispered back to Videl, "Because I know who _really_ defeated Cell."

Videl made a 'hmpf!' sound before falling into deep thought. This could be an opportunity for her to find out more and so, she vowed to have a word with the new student later on.

* * *

The next period was P.E. which was a nice break from hearing Ms. Mademoiselle's voice for two hours straight. Having her as their homeroom teacher as well as their literature teacher was no joke. The students were glad that they only had to deal with two consecutive periods of her every Friday and as soon as the bell chimed, they rushed out of the classroom as quickly as they could.

The series of unpleasant events that Dende and Piccolo predicted continued and Gohan found himself facing his muscular P.E. teacher Mr. Neggerschwarze once again.

"To quote Arnold Schwarzenegger, 'Bodybuilding is much like any other sport. To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100% to your training, diet and mental approach'," the buff teacher began. "With that said, look at my beautiful muscles! Ahem. Please, forget I said the last part. Yes… now, where was I? Oh, yes."

Gohan prayed to Dende asking his alien friend for a light consideration, but the young Namekian had different plans.

"Since it's raining, we can't go out to the fields today," Mr. Neggerschwarze continued. "So, my young ducklings, I will give all of you a treat. Instead of being out in the cold rain, I booked the heated pools at the last minute and I hope you appreciate that because I had to fight with the other P.E. teachers to give you that privilege. With that said, please go to the locker rooms and change to your swimming wear. You know where the pools are. I will see you in about five minutes."

All the students rejoiced except for Gohan. There was a reason that he wore long sleeved and baggy clothes and now he was certain that he would attract unwanted attention to himself despite how hard he tried to keep a low profile. To top it all off, he now had to worry about both Videl AND Lime.

Resigning himself to the situation, he followed the males to the changing room and hoped for the best.

"Hey, isn't that new girl hot?"

Gohan's sensitive hearing picked up a conversation. The entrance of Lime was a hot topic among the boys and, following the conversation, Gohan couldn't help but remember the time when he saved her and accidentally touched her breasts and he would never forget how soft they were.

He blushed. Unfortunately for him, Lime didn't forget their awkward meeting either. In the girl's locker room, Videl confronted Lime about their talk earlier.

"So, tell me, Lime. What _do_ you mean when you said you know who really defeated Cell?"

Lime snickered. She didn't actually know, but she had a good feeling about who really defeated Cell. Call it a woman's intuition. As she watched the broadcast of the Cell Games, it didn't escape her notice that the young, blonde haired boy that saved their village from the tyranny of Mr. Borbonne was participating.

Having witnessed first-hand how easily the boy destroyed Mr. Borbonne's Protective Dome with a _ki_ blast, she knows that Mr. Satan is lying about the light tricks and claiming to defeat Cell. She had watched him being easily swatted by Cell and she knew that he was actually a weakling. Normally she would just let him be, but her hate for him started when all the members of Chazke Village (apart from her and her grandfather Mr. Lao) starting hailing the man as a hero. She couldn't believe how easily the villagers forgot who really saved them from Mr. Borbonne and she couldn't take it that they believed Mr. Satan's lies about the light tricks when they too had witnessed first-hand that it wasn't a trick. She smiled sardonically.

"You know what I mean. Do you really believe that your father defeated Cell when you saw how he got swatted down so easily? Do you really think that he could beat him when there were others who could perfectly keep up with Cell when he couldn't?"

Then she said in a bad imitation of Videl's voice, "'But he told me that those were all tricks!'" she laughed. "Well, it's time to wake up and smell the coffee, sweetheart. How blind can you be if you really believe that lying afro?"

It was official. Videl now hated Lime. She didn't know that she could hate somebody this much. She hated the new girl's guts but she grit her teeth and swallowed her pride. She wanted to find out more about what really happened or her conscience wouldn't let her rest.

"So who do you think really defeated Cell, Lime?"

"I don't 'think'. I _know_ who really defeated Cell. He's my fiancé and I think you know him as the Golden Fighter."

_"Well, that's not quite true. He's not my fiancé but he might as well be since he has to take responsibility for groping my breasts,"_ thought Lime. As they say, 'once a liar, always a liar'.

Coming from a backwater village, it was common for women in Chazke Village to remain 'pure' until they got married. It was tradition that once a man taints a woman's 'purity' he would then be inclined to marry her and support her for the rest of his life. Therefore, as soon as Lime and Mr. Lao saw in the news videos of the Golden Fighter, Lime convinced her grandfather to send her to Satan City in the hopes of once again meeting Gohan.

"Hmm, so you claim that the Golden Fighter is your fiancé, huh? Alright then, prove it. What's the Golden Fighter's name?" Videl said smugly, expecting Lime to start stumbling around her words in search of a name.

Once again, Lime grinned.

"And why should I tell you? I won't get anything from doing that. I'll tell you what: on the occasion that our teacher holds a martial arts sparring session, fight me. I want to know how _weak_ you are if you were trained by that man," she taunted. "If you can beat me, I'll tell you my fiancé's real identity."

* * *

There was a commotion by the poolside when Videl, Erasa and Lime came out of the girl's changing rooms.

The girls crowded around Gohan and were all drooling at the sight of him.

Set aside from the crowd were the males of the class who watched with envy as their crushes or their girlfriends went gaga over the nerd boy. They didn't expect him to hide a muscular physique underneath those baggy clothes and all they could remark was, "He's probably on steroids!" as they tried – and failed – to convince the girls to stop paying attention to him.

"Alright, break it up, break it up!" called out Mr. Neggerschwarze as he entered the pool. "What's going on here – oh, I say!"

Gohan stood with his feet together, looking down at the floor as he blushed in embarrassment. As soon as Videl saw him when the crowd of girls parted, she too was amazed.

"Right, Mr. Son. I think you've just become my new star pupil," Mr. Neggerschwarze joked before he asked the girls to disperse and give the embarrassed teen some space.

Gohan was… muscular. He wasn't just well-defined. From his pectorals, biceps, triceps, abdominal muscles all the way down to his calf muscles, one could say that Gohan was definitely not as geeky as he projected himself to be. If the girls were attracted to him being cute before, they definitely were in love with him now. Such were their thoughts while they dispersed to enjoy the heated water of the pool.

Erasa just smiled knowingly. She knew from her encounter with Gohan that he was hiding a muscular physique. She would never forget the definition of those muscles to her touch and, in fact, she had used his image to fantasize and relieve her… uh… _frustrations_ the other night.

Lime too was entranced, but she couldn't make out one thing. When she looked at the half-Saiyan, she could swear that she had met him somewhere before but couldn't quite make out where. Knowing this, she asked Erasa – whom she got along quite well with unlike Videl, "Hey, Era, who's that guy?"

Delighted that they were close enough to make nicknames for each other, Erasa eagerly replied, "Oh, him? He's a cutie, isn't he? His name is Gohan. Here, I'll introduce you. Gohan!" she waved to get the embarrassed teen's attention.

Gohan was glad to move out of the limelight and was more than happy to walk over to his friends.

"Hey there, cutie. I didn't know you were so muscular underneath that geeky façade," Erasa lied.

Gohan could only laugh while scratching the back of his head while Erasa continued.

"Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to the new girl. Lime, Gohan. Gohan, Lime."

Pretending that it was the first time he met her, Gohan said politely while shaking Lime's hand, "Pleased to meet you, my name is Son Gohan."

Noting Gohan's firm grip, Lime thought to herself, _"His name is the same as that blonde boy I met seven years ago. Could it be - ?"_

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Lao Lime, I'll be in your care from now on," she said while bowing slightly to Gohan.

She then made it a point to investigate further about Gohan while searching for the Golden Fighter, though, like Videl, she suspected that Gohan had something to do with the Golden Fighter.

* * *

The rest of the day passed by with only a few incidents where Gohan was assaulted by various females asking him if he was taking anyone out for a Valentine's date and if he wasn't would he be willing to take them instead, causing Erasa to step in and claim that he had already asked her out and she had agreed thus ending the matter altogether.

During lunch, Lime was exposed to Gohan's incredible appetite though she didn't see it as strange as the others had when they first saw Gohan eating.

"So are you two going out together?" she asked Erasa and Gohan.

Gohan simply blushed and stuttered, "N-no! You got it wrong! Erasa already has a b-boyfriend."

Erasa just teased him by cheekily saying, "Wow, the way denied it so strongly makes me feel sad," causing Gohan to blush even deeper.

There was a mischievous glint in Lime's eyes as she teased further, "Ehh… so that means Gohan and Ms. Satan here must be together then, seeing how much she's been staring at you for a while now."

Videl had had it enough with the new girl. She had been getting on her nerves since this morning when she made the remark about her father and when she challenged her (which she eagerly accepted) and now she couldn't contain herself anymore when she teased her about Gohan.

"Can't you keep your trap shut for just one minute?" she huffed angrily before storming off to join the queue of students grabbing their lunch. "Erasa, I'll get you your salad this time."

Gohan and Erasa just stared at each other blankly before asking Lime, "What's gotten into her?"

They weren't aware of the conversations between Videl and Lime beforehand and so they were left to imagine the reason why Videl was so angry.

"Oh my, isn't she always like that?"

"Uh… she's normally angry all the time, but I've never seen her burst out like that before," confirmed Gohan.

Lime just patted Gohan's shoulder as if sympathetically and said, "Must be that time of the month for her. Don't worry, you'll know when you get yourself a girlfriend," leaving a very confused Gohan indeed.

* * *

The rain had subsided by the time school ended and Gohan had changed into his Great Saiyaman suit before he shot off to the skies.

There was a small hostage taking at a convenience store which he quickly took care of after doing his usual entrance poses before he once again encountered Videl on her jet copter who gave him chase. He normally could outfly the jet copter with his speed, but he knew that Videl would push the machine to its limits in an attempt to catch up to him which could potentially cause her to stall mid-air and crash so he did some maneuvering for thirty minutes before she finally gave up and decided to let him go.

It was a Friday so he decided to pay his God-mother Bulma a visit and so, he made a beeline for the Capsule Corporation headquarters which also served as the Brief family's home.

Walking through the main entrance, the receptionist – a pretty girl called Secretary – recognized the young half-Saiyan and greeted him cheerfully.

"Hiya, Gohan. Here to see Mrs. Briefs?"

"You betcha!" he returned the cheerful greeting before a loud shout echoed across the reception area.

"Secretary, how many times have I told you before? When you refer to me, address me as Bulma. Mrs. Briefs is my mother."

"Bulma!" exclaimed Gohan. He ran up to her and delightedly gave his God-mother a hug.

"Hey, tiger. You greet me like you haven't seen me in ages when I only last saw you this Monday," Bulma laughed.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Briefs, but I'm afraid I have to address my boss in an appropriate manner," Secretary smiled.

Bulma sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well, then 'ma'am' should be fine."

"Yes, ma'am."

With that, Bulma ushered Gohan to the 2nd Floor of the Capsule Corporation which served as the family floor.

"So how was your first week of school, tiger?" she asked him affectionately.

She treated Gohan like her own son seeing that he was the child she would bear if the _what-if_ _-I-married-Goku_ situation happened. Bulma didn't deny that the adventures she had with Goku as a teenager had a big impact on her life and, at some point, she even harbored a crush on him after he returned from training at Kami's Lookout as a teenager. Of course, that was all in the past now that she had married Vegeta, but there are times when she wondered if she really made the right choice looking at how her husband treated her. However, whenever she saw her son, Trunk's smile, those thoughts would immediately disappear and she was glad to have carried and given birth to a fine young warrior, mischievous as he is. Still, there was a certain amount of affection that she held for Goku and his family and, if they ever needed help, she wouldn't hesitate to go out of her way to provide it.

"It was alright, I had a little bit of trouble but nothing I can't handle," Gohan reassured his God-mother.

"You certainly don't sound like you can handle it," laughed Bulma. "So what is it? Girl problems?"

"Aha, ahahahaha," chuckled Gohan nervously while scratching the back of his head which greatly reminded Bulma of the late Goku. "Yeah, throughout the week I've been hounded by this girl called Videl because she suspects that I'm the Golden Warrior and the Great Saiyaman. Then today, a girl I saved seven years back transferred to my class. Thankfully she doesn't seem to recognize who I was since I was in Super Saiyan form back then."

Gohan had deliberately excluded information about Erasa clinging on to him because he knew that Bulma being Bulma would tease him about it.

It was at that moment when the young Trunks entered the room.

"Hi, mum. Do you know what happened to my – Gohan!" the purple haired half-Saiyan exclaimed. "How have you been? Did you come here to play with me?"

"Hey, sport. Not quite, but I can always make time if you want me to," Gohan smiled.

"Really? Cool! Gohan, you're the best!"

"Now, Trunks-honey, me and Gohan are talking right now. Come back later when we're done talking, alright?"

"Yes, mummy," Trunks said before going off to God-knows-where. He stopped by the doorway though when an idea came to his mind and asked, "Hey, Gohan, which class did you say you were in?"

"Uh, I'm in Class 1A in Orange Star High School," was Gohan's puzzled reply.

"Right. I'll see you in the Game Room when you're done, okay?"

"Sure, sport. I'll see you then."

With that, Trunks left Bulma and Gohan to talk in peace.

"Look at him, the energetic little snowball," Bulma remarked.

"Haha, yeah. He reminds me of Goten."

"Hm, Goten's a lot more innocent than him though. Sometimes I have a hard time making sure he doesn't go overboard with his pranks. In any case, what were we talking about again? Oh! Right. Girl problems."

Bulma continued to give Gohan advice while somewhere in Capsule Corporation, Trunks Briefs had a genius idea. He looked up to his mother for her love and kindness plus the fact that she was a lot looser with him compared to Chichi with Goten, but that doesn't stop him from using her name to play a prank on Gohan.

He dashed to his room and started throwing things around from under his bed in search for something. Finally, he found it. Holding up a bow-tie with various dials, he played with the settings until he got his mother's voice pitch before he picked up the in-built phone in his room and dialed the reception.

"Yes, Secretary speaking, what can I help you with?" Secretary answered with a puzzled expression.

It was unusual for the Briefs family to contact her through their private home phones which were hooked up to the receptionist's desk such that a light will flash on the dashboard to show her that it's an important call and she must put any call on hold to answer.

"Hello," the voice of Bulma Briefs came through. "Secretary, could you contact Orange Star High School and request for Class 1A – that's Class 1A for Alpha – to have a three day two night visit here at Headquarters?"

"Not a problem, ma'am. When would you like to book this visit?"

"Hmm, let's see. How about a month from now? Tell them to surprise the students and announce it only the day before the visit."

"Duly noted, ma'am."

And with that, Trunks smiled mischievously throughout the afternoon while playing with Gohan all the way up till when he slept.

* * *

_End of Chapter Five_  
_To be continued...  
_


	6. Chapter Six: Saving Erasa

**Chapter Six: Saving Erasa**

Chapter Notes:

"Flashback."

**A/N: -**

* * *

Saturday had come and the sky was clear blue and the birds were singing joyfully, signaling a start of a beautiful day.

Thankfully for our young half-Saiyan hero, Chichi only woke him up with the frying pan during school days when he didn't wake up on time so he had a wonderful time sleeping in until he smelled the fragrance of his mother's cooking.

He quickly shot up from under his duvets and washed his face and brushed his teeth in a flash before he dashed down to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Morning, mum!"

"Oh, Gohan. You're up early," Chichi remarked.

"Of course! I wouldn't miss your cooking for anything in the world, mum," he replied back genuinely.

After a relaxed breakfast, Gohan got ready to visit Erasa's house and was about to leave when Goten woke up.

"Big brother, aren't you going to play with me today?" the young, seven year old asked drowsily while rubbing the sleep off his eyes.

"Hm, maybe not at the moment, squirt," Gohan said good-naturedly, trying not to upset (to his eyes) his baby brother. "I have to go and visit a friend to work on my music project."

"Aw, but you never play with me anymore," Goten pouted.

Gohan walked over and patted the younger half-Saiyan's spiky hair and said, "Relax bro, I'll come and play with you when I come back. I promise."

Satisfied knowing that his elder brother never broke a promise before, Goten bid his brother goodbye while chewing on a mouthful of breakfast.

Gohan kissed his mother on the cheek goodbye before he gave his younger brother a ruffle on the hair. He did that often, probably subconsciously taking comfort in the similar feel of his father's hair which he used to play with when he was a kid. Then he took to the skies wearing the costume of the Great Saiyaman that he was very proud of.

* * *

Back at the Eraser household, Erasa took a shower in getting ready for her boyfriend Durago's visit. She had completely forgotten about the appointment with Gohan and Angela despite her giving her address to them.

Relaxing in the warmth of the water hitting her skin, she squeezed her arms around her rather well-endowed chest and hugged herself. It was a beautiful morning outside, but her day was ruined when her father hit her when he found out about her allowing her boyfriend and his friends to come over to their house without giving him prior notice.

Her mother took her father's side of the argument of course, which made the matter even more painful for her. She had neither friends nor allies in the household. Not even the maids who took care of her since she was a baby had the heart to console her. Perhaps they were too cold hearted to care or they feared that if they took her side, they would lose their well-paying jobs. It didn't matter to Erasa.

All she wanted was a way to escape reality. Her heart ached and she felt miserable whenever things like these happened – which happened very often – but she shed no tears. She had never shed a single tear ever since she met Videl and Sharpner. Back then she told herself, _"No more."_

She vowed to be strong for the sake of not worrying her two best friends. Taking on a cheerful and bubbly attitude towards her friends, she surrounded herself with men and went out with them frequently in the hope that one day, a man would take her away from this horrible house and treat her well and give her the loving life that she longed for. Such was the fantasy that she always envisioned whenever she was alone.

The hot water ran out which signaled for her to get out of the shower. She dried her short, blonde hair, got dressed and spent a fair amount of time in front of the mirror putting on make-up to hide the bruise that her father caused. Then she lounged around the house waiting for Durago and his friends to come.

She was glad that her father had only found out this morning when he had already made definite plans to go out on a dinner with other powerful businessmen. Of course, he took his wife with him to show the world that everything was fine and that he was living a happy marriage which her mother was more than happy to comply with.

The doorbell rang and she heard one of the maids in her early twenties answered it.

"Oh, young miss, it's horrible!" exclaimed the maid. "There's a group of shady looking guys at the front door!"

"Relax, Ms. Maid, they're my boyfriend and his friends. Let them in."

The maid followed Erasa's orders faithfully despite her misgivings about the rowdy bunch of teenagers.

"Oi, oi. Boss are you sure about this?" one of the teens asked Durago. "I didn't know she had a maid."

"Of course you moron! We're here now," Durago said confidently.

The young, short-haired teen already had multiple previous experiences with what they were about to do and so he feared nothing.

"Besides," he said. "That maid was not bad looking and she seems young too. If she ever gets in the way, we'll just have to take care of her."

With that, Durago and his cronies walked into the Eraser Mansion and were greeted by the sight of Erasa dressed in a green, striped tube top and hot pants.

"Baby!" exclaimed Erasa before running down the luxurious staircase and jumping into Durago's muscular, tattooed arms giving him a hot, wet and passionate kiss that involved her coiling her tongue around his.

When she finished, she realized that she had swallowed a lump sized object from Durago's mouth.

"Babe?" Durago asked her with fake concern.

Truth be told, he had already planned everything in advance. He had found Erasa through an online dating site and, after getting to know her and her issues with her parents, he found himself on easy street manipulating Erasa to fall in love with him and making her his girlfriend. In fact, after finding out her address, he and his cronies staked out the place for a few weeks to concoct a plan. With some difficulty, he tapped into the Eraser household phone lines and even intercepted phone calls to make sure that everything would go smoothly. It was then that he found out that Rubber Eraser would be going out on a business trip on that particular Saturday making it the perfect time for him to put his plan into motion.

He knew that Erasa would be delighted to see him after two weeks and so, he popped the date-rape drug into his mouth just before entering the mansion and made her unknowingly swallow it during their kiss.

As Erasa's vision hazy, her body burned hot and her mind became clouded. She tried to speak again but could only manage a weak, puzzled, "Ba-…be?"

Durago smiled cruelly.

"Alright, boys. Let the fun begin!"

* * *

Gohan found himself flying over Satan City in search for Erasa's address.

On his way, he encountered a few muggings and road rage and, inclined to help others, he stopped to help the people since he wasn't in a rush. He knew he was about two hours early, but it was the first time that he was visiting another person's house other than Master Roshi's or Bulma's (he didn't consider Kami's Lookout as a house) and so he was excited enough to go early. He was so excited in fact that, instead of just simply searching for Erasa's _ki_, he decided to actually try looking for a person's address for once – not that he had visited another person before.

"Stop, fiends! I am the Great Saiyaman! Defender of truth! Protector of the innocent! Upholder of justice! Doer of good!" he announced at his arrival while doing his Saiyaman entrance poses.

_"Now that is what I call style!"_ he thought to himself while holding a squatting pose with his arms over his head forming an 'M' shape.

"Look, it's the Great Saiyaman and his poses again!"

Recognizing the Great Saiyaman, the road ragers immediately stopped their car and apologized to the new, helmeted hero of Satan City which brought a smile to Gohan's face.

_"Wow, I'm getting more famous than I thought! And they mentioned my poses too!" _he said to himself not knowing what people actually thought of his poses.

After that, Gohan decided that he was close enough to Erasa's given address so he decided to walk, thinking that he might encounter – _"Uh, what was her name again?" _Gohan asked himself – Angela. He was hoping to discuss more about the homework with her along the way and, like a real nerd, he thought about surprising Erasa by brainstorming some ideas with the 'red haired girl' as Gohan would call her since he couldn't remember her name or face for that matter.

Unfortunately or fortunately for him, Angela had an appointment with her optometrist that day regarding running the regular eye tests to keep her contacts prescription up-to-date and so he was essentially left alone to do the homework with his bubbly, blonde friend.

Arriving at the front of the Eraser household mansion, Gohan was struck by awe as he realized how rich Erasa was. Sure, the place wasn't as large as Bulma's house which could house a planet's population of Namekians when New Namek wasn't created yet, but still, the place was huge! It was definitely much bigger than his humble home.

He rang the doorbell hoping that he wouldn't have to wait long but was answered by a rude, gruff, male voice at the intercom.

"Go away," the voice said.

"Hello, I'm Son Gohan," Gohan insisted. "I'm Erasa's classmate. We were supposed to work on the research part of our music project together."

"Leave or I will call the police."

Inside, Durago and his gang had only managed to strip Erasa naked before Gohan rang the doorbell. Annoyed that his fun had been interrupted before it even began, he told one of his underlings to shoo away whoever it was before he proceeded to visually feast on Erasa's voluptuous body. He always enjoyed the panicked expression of a woman when she realized her predicament so he waited patiently for Erasa to wake up.

Meanwhile, Gohan felt that something was amiss. He had experience interacting with butlers before due to his frequent visits to Bulma's house (before they all quit because they couldn't take Trunks' pranks and Vegeta's abusive language) and so he knew that butlers were supposed to act professionally even when they were chasing away unwanted visitors.

Deciding to search for Erasa's _ki_, he felt the irregularities in it due to Erasa's ingestion of the date-rape drug. Of course, he didn't know that she had been drugged. He only knew that the irregularities in her _ki_ meant that she was in a life-or-death situation and was panicked enough to disrupt the natural flow of her _ki_ and so, he said goodbye to whoever was answering the intercom and pretended to walk away in case they were monitoring him through the cameras at the gates.

He was angry enough knowing that one of his few precious friends' life was being threatened. So angry in fact that he forgot to transform into his Great Saiyaman costume as he jumped through the fence and burst through the main door where he could feel a congregation of _ki_-sthat were not Erasa's.

There was a loud bang as Gohan ripped the large, elegant oak doors off its hinges followed by a loud scream as the maid ran out of the room after seeing what happened just as she entered from the kitchen to serve her mistress' guests with some tea and biscuits.

"Man, what the fu-?" Durago exclaimed at the unexpected intrusion.

Seeing Erasa naked normally would have caused Gohan to blush deep red, but this time, he didn't. Instead, what he saw greatly fueled his anger after seeing what these hoodlums were doing to his friend.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and said threateningly, "Hey, pal. What's the deal?"

The person who tapped him obviously had a knife pointed at his kidneys and was ready to pierce the piece of metal in him when, in a flash, he grabbed the assailant's arm holding the knife and squeezed his hands shut.

The person cried in agony as his bones got crushed, losing all the will to free himself.

Gohan glared at him. "No, what's _your_ deal?" he said.

He didn't even wait for an answer before he flung the person onto a display of antique plates which belonged to Erasa's mother.

"Next," Gohan said to no one in particular as he proceeded to fling Durago's gang members one by one into various corners of the Eraser mansion, more often than not, causing them to break several bones and collapse in the process.

Thankfully, even though he was angry, he still had a decent control of his strength and the most that could happen was that the teens he flung would lose their ability to walk for the rest of their lives. They would become paraplegics, but at the very least, they won't die.

There was only one last person left.

Durago watched with his mouth hanging open as one black-haired, gravity defying hairstyled, nerdy looking guy took care of all the members of his gang. It wasn't that his gang was weak. In fact, they were one of the most feared teen gangs in Satan City. However, Gohan was just too strong.

Fearing that Gohan would do the same to him, he resorted to hoisting up a groggy Erasa and threatened, "Don't come any closer or the girl gets hurt."

Gohan stopped in his tracks for a brief second. He cared a lot for Erasa because she was one of the few friends that he had that were his age, but he didn't stop because he was worried that she might get hurt. Instead, he stopped to enjoy watching Durago tremble in fear, his Saiyan blood pumping through his veins. He trusted in his abilities and he was confident that he could save her from harm. It was the same as what happened with Cell. He was overconfident.

"W-what are you smiling at?" a panicked Durago shouted. "I-I'm serious! If you come nearer I will s-slice her neck."

Erasa was just about regaining her consciousness by this time but both Gohan and Durago were too caught up in the moment to notice her.

Gohan let the teen wet himself in panic as he projected a dangerous aura towards him before he dashed and appeared right before the teen's eyes, closing the 50-meter gap between them before mockingly saying, "Boo!"

Not expecting Gohan to disappear and reappear right before his eyes in a fraction of a second, Durago screamed in surprise and dropped Erasa and his knife to the ground before he scarpered off in an attempt to run away from Gohan, but Gohan had already anticipated him and, with a flick of his finger on Durago's forehead, Gohan sent him flying into the lounge's TV.

After witnessing an unbelievable feat, Erasa shivered in fear as well, half expecting Gohan to do the same to her in his anger, but he didn't. He removed his vest and threw it over her to cover her up before he lifted her up and carried her to the sofa. After finally feeling that she was safe from harm, Erasa collapsed into an unconscious heap.

Gohan didn't know that Erasa was awake during the whole ordeal though and, as he helped himself to the food in the fridge while waiting for her to wake up, he realized that he had forgotten to transform into his Great Saiyaman costume.

"Oh no! Those guys saw my face! What am I going to do?" he shouted out loud in panic.

Now that he had eaten and had calmed down, he finally realized the gravity of the situation.

Not knowing what to do, he decided to follow an advice that Vegeta once taught him. He gathered the unconscious bodies of Durago and his gang members and remembered in a flashback the conversation between him and the Prince of Saiyans.

"Oi, Kakabrat! Why are you so afraid of being seen fighting in public?"

"I fear for my family's privacy, Vegeta. You know that."

"Hmpf! This is why you're so weak. Very well, since you're still part of the proud Saiyan race, it hurts my pride by doing so, but I will teach you a memory erasing technique passed down to us from generation to generation. My father personally taught this technique to me. Pay attention because I will only be teaching it to you once!"

Gohan scratched the front of his head and muttered to himself, "Hmm… if I remember correctly, it went like this!"

He grabbed Durago's head first and slammed it hard on the floor once, twice… seven times.

"Yeap. If I'm not wrong, it was seven times," he said aloud.

Satisfied that he didn't miss anything, he did the same to the other five members of Durago's gang before he threw them out on the street somewhere.

"I just hope that technique is really effective," he continued talking to himself. Then he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Ah well, Vegeta's always serious. He would never tell a lie."

He decided to tidy up the house as best as he could, seeing that the damage done was mostly because of himself. Then, he helped himself to some food from the fridge before he opened his bag and flipped through his music book in search for information that he could use for the research part of the music project.

* * *

The sky had turned a bright, warm orange hue by the time Erasa woke up. Sitting up, she rubbed the sleep off her eyes until she realized that she was naked.

She gasped as she remembered the events that happened and the gasp didn't escape our young hero's notice.

"Hey," Gohan smiled kindly. "Had a good rest?"

Erasa was shocked to see Gohan sitting on the sofa with his books and notes spread around the coffee table as if nothing happened and it took a moment for her to find her voice and another moment to come up with something to say.

"W-what are you doing here?" she stuttered.

Gohan laughed in a carefree manner. "Did you forget? We were supposed to do our music project research today, weren't we?"

Erasa could only reply back with an "Oh" as her brain tried to recount more of what happened. The drug that Durago made her take unknowingly had the effect of making her head fuzzy at that time so she could only recount bits and pieces of what happened.

"Durago – wait… no… fast… no… flick! That's it! Durago made me take this drug and him and his friends were about to do something to me and then my mind was fuzzy and then -"

"Whoa, whoa! Slow down, Erasa. You'll only stress your brain if you try to think too much."

Erasa paused for a second at Gohan's interruption before she continued again at a rapid pace.

"That's right. They were about to ra-ra-rape me and then – argh!" she screamed when she realized that the vest that Gohan used to cover her up had slipped when she sat up.

Gohan blushed pink when Erasa moved to cover up her breasts with her hands, but Erasa didn't let up as she continued.

"…and then Durago held me hostage with a knife but you saved me Gohan! You saved me! With a flick of your finger!"

Gohan scratched the back of his head and sweated buckets as he attempted to deny what he did. He didn't realize that Erasa had been conscious during that time.

"Ah – no. I didn't do anything. I just came in and found them and luckily I had a Taser and…"

"Don't lie, Son Gohan," Erasa said sternly. "I saw what you did. There's no point denying it."

"Really, it must be the effect of that drug you were talking about! Ahahaha. Yeah! The drug must have messed with your brains and distorted what you really saw."

Gohan was about to cover his lies with more lies when Erasa dashed up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek before hugging him tightly causing him to stop talking altogether and blushing once again.

"That's for saving me," Erasa smiled sweetly.

She knew that she would never get a straight answer from Gohan so she just let it go. One thing was for certain though, the conflicted feelings she had for Gohan during that week had all been cleared up. She thought that once she saw Durago again, her feelings for Gohan would return to normal, but it didn't prove to be the case. She now knew that she was madly in love with Gohan and that he was the prince that she had been waiting for.

_"But what about Videl?"_ she asked herself.

She was worried about messing with her friend's first love though she knew that Videl might not even know that she was in love herself.

As Gohan patted her head the same way as he did with Goten to acknowledge her thanks, Erasa's conflicted emotions grew within her.

_"She's too thick to know it yet, but she will find out that she's in love with Gohan eventually," _she thought as she considered her best friend's feelings. _"Should I just give up on Gohan? But then that would mean making myself miserable just as I found my one true love. But what about Videl?"_

As she debated with herself, there was a loud shout from across the doorway.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU TWO DOING?!"

* * *

_End of Chapter Six_

_To be continued..._


	7. Chapter Seven: Disowned

**Chapter Seven: Disowned**

Chapter Notes:

The currency in the Dragon Ball Universe is '_zenny_'. Apparently, it is a rough equivalent of the Japanese yen, but for this fanfiction, assume that it's equivalent to your currency - unless you live in one of the countries where zeroes in money is insignificant unless in the millions - then assume that it's equivalent to the U.S. Dollar.

* * *

Videl Satan was carefully searching through the phone directory in search for a lead about Gohan's private life. She had done a careful search on the internet and found nothing on BookFace and Tweeter about Gohan's profile.

_"Doesn't this guy use any social networking site at all?"_ she complained.

Of course, living out in the sticks, Gohan only had access to cabled TV and the basic phone lines thanks to Bulma's influence. He didn't have access to the internet and, even if he did, he would most likely be only using it for educational purposes since he didn't really need a social networking account seeing that he didn't have any friends his age until now.

Not knowing that, Videl did a thorough background check on Gohan, but even her contribution to public security didn't grant her access to the police's database so she had to make do with the limited resources that she had access to.

_"Another dead-end, huh?"_ she thought to herself. Pushing off from her table, she swiveled and spun around in place using her adjustable computer chair with her eyes closed.

She was trying to relax and let off some stress. It was the first time in her life that she had difficulty getting what she wanted. Normally, with a snap of her finger, her father would get her anything that she wanted (as long as it wasn't related to dating a guy – not that she was interested in dating one anyway, she thought to herself). This also worked with anyone who knew who she was, but for some reason, it didn't apply to Gohan. Indeed, she felt that he treated her like she was just another normal human being instead of the celebrity treatment that everyone else gave her.

In a way, it felt nice to be treated like another human being, but she was frustrated. It had already been a week since she knew him and a week since she started her investigations, but still – nothing.

There was a knock on the door followed by a soft, humble voice.

"The bath is ready, young miss."

It was one of the monks that served as the Satan family's butlers. Shaved bald and clad in orange, her father had gotten their absolute loyalty when he saved the world.

"Alright, I'm coming!" she called out.

She stood up and left for the bath room – a large room in the Satan mansion that housed a large heated pool that her father, Mr. Satan, called a bath tub - separate from the shower rooms. It was getting late and she had to rise early to accompany her father in one of his public speeches.

Investigating Gohan would have to be continued on another day.

* * *

"Daddy!" exclaimed a surprised Erasa. "What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be on an important dinner with other businessmen?"

At the broken oak door entrance, a blonde, waist-length haired man stood with a furious expression on his face. A quick glance at him and you could tell that he was a very wealthy man. Everything he wore on himself are designer branded and, looking at his watch, one could see that it was a brand that costs at least 25,000 zenny, so it wasn't hard to imagine how much the rest of his clothes cost.

"I was. Until a certain maid called in panic about a person breaking down my front door," he said pointedly.

He held out his hand and touched the broken hinges of the door.

"This..." he paused, "Cost me 5,000 zenny to install. Ah, yes. It's a very fine piece of oak… very old, very expensive."

Then he looked at Gohan and then at Erasa and continued.

"So tell me, daughter," he never referred to Erasa by her name, showing how distant their relationship as father and daughter is. "Why would this young man come to my house, destroy my door and cause distress to my servants? More importantly, why are you naked with him?"

"Ah! I, um, uh…" Gohan stammered, not knowing what to say. He wasn't scared of the man, no. He was simply considering how to reply to make the situation less worse for Erasa. Unfortunately, this had the opposite effect.

"SILENCE!" bellowed Rubber Eraser. Then he sneered at Gohan.

"I am talking to my daughter right now. You best learn not to interrupt, you low-class plebian."

"Daddy, he has nothing to do with this! Leave him alone – please!"

Rubber Eraser glared at Erasa just as Vinyl Eraser came in.

"What's going on – oh my!"

"Your daughter… has brought home a man and _slept_ with –"

"I didn't sleep with Gohan! I swear I didn't!"

"- and slept with him!" Rubber raised his voice to show that he didn't care about what Erasa wanted to say. He didn't want to be interrupted. "Not only that, the boy also broke through the front door and caused our servant distress! And, if I'm not mistaken, the servant also reported being asked to allow a group of rowdy teenagers to enter our home."

Vinyl listened to her husband speak and she too, looked at Erasa and Gohan with disdain.

"We were in the middle of a very important conversation about business just now and your father suddenly excused himself and left. Do you know how damaging that would be to his reputation?"

At this point, tears began to flow from Erasa's eyes. "Yes, it's always about dad! Dad and his business, dad this and dad that, isn't it?"

"I will not be spoken to like that, Erasa!"

"Both of you, QUIET!" a very irritated Rubber shouted. "I thought you were useless to have as a daughter. I didn't even want you to be born in the first place. But things finally started to look up! I was going to arrange for your marriage with the son of the owner of a large company and expand my business empire, but I see this! How can I marry you off when you've already given your chastity?"

"I did not! I swear I haven't!"

Either he ignored her or he genuinely didn't hear her, but Rubber continued. "You have disgraced the family, girl! I think it's time you learned a lesson. From here on, I disown you! Get out of my house, or I will call the police and hand you over as a trespasser."

Erasa looked at her mother, hoping for support, but her mother only continued to look at her as if she was a piece of trash. Vinyl obviously agreed with her husband unconditionally.

Erasa, seeing the look that both her parents were giving her just sat frozen in shock. She couldn't believe that they would go to the extent of disowning her.

_"Where am I going to live now?"_ she asked herself.

She didn't want to inconvenience her best friend Videl.

_"Maybe I can live at Sharpner's for a while. I'm still in good terms with him and his parents."_

It was then that Gohan lifted her up and asked Rubber politely, "Um, excuse me, but where's her room?

"What?" was Rubber's confused reply.

He couldn't believe that the young man, after witnessing the shouting and the situation between him and his daughter, could remain so calm.

"I said, 'Where's her room?'"

"And why should I tell you that?"

"Well, you're disowning her, right? She'll have to have her clothes at least."

Rubber grunted. It was a logical argument so he gave Gohan directions to Erasa's room and added, "I'll give her ten minutes to grab whatever she can before I'll consider it trespassing."

Gohan acknowledged and carried Erasa to her room.

"Gohan, what are you doing?" she asked confusedly.

Gohan blushed and said sheepishly, "Well, it seems to be my fault that you're being disowned so I'm taking responsibility."

"You don't have to do that! You know it wasn't your fault. You just saved me from Durago and his gang, that's what you did. You didn't do anything wrong," Erasa argued.

"Ah, well. I still feel bad about the whole thing, so…"

"Gohan, you're so sweet, but really, you don't have to. I can ask Sharpner if he could let me stay at his house. I'm sure his mother would be glad to have me around."

"I've made my decision, Erasa. You're staying at my house," Gohan said definitely thus ending the argument.

In reality, Gohan didn't want Erasa to stay at his house. He had so many secrets that would be revealed if Erasa stayed with him, but his conscience told him that it was partly his fault that Erasa had been kicked out of her house and so he felt compelled to offer her shelter.

He thought about asking Bulma to offer Erasa lodging, but he realized that living with Bulma would be worse for keeping his secrets since Vegeta was too proud to lie and hide that they - the Z-fighters - were the ones that helped hold Cell at bay. He also thought about the ordeal Erasa would live through if she lived with Trunks and his pranks, so ultimately, he had no choice but to offer her accommodation at his house.

_"It wouldn't be so bad_," he thought as he tried consoling himself. _"With Bulma and the Capsule Corporation, Erasa will find out about all of my secrets, but if she stayed at my house, she'll find out about some, but I know she's reasonable and I can ask her to keep it a secret," _he told himself.

He genuinely felt that Erasa can keep quiet about his secrets seeing that she didn't argue with him about his strength even after she witnessed it. With those thoughts, he waited for Erasa to pack some of her clothes and essentials in a small backpack.

"Are you sure about this, Gohan?" Erasa asked him uncertainly after she had packed and worn something decent.

She was grateful for the offer, but at the same time, she didn't really want to impose on him as she had only known him for a week.

"I'm positive. Now come on, let's boogie. We have to drop by somewhere first."

* * *

"Now, don't be surprised if I tell you where we're going, okay?"

"I've seen you send a person flying with a flick of your finger. What else can surprise me?"

"Uh… yeah… about that. Would you mind keeping that a secret from everybody else? I would really appreciate it."

"Hmm… well, you _are_ letting me stay with you so I guess it's only fair to keep your secrets."

Gohan thanked Dende that Erasa was reasonable unlike _someone_ that he had to deal with almost every day in school.

He scratched the back of his head in a very Goku-like fashion and laughed nervously.

"Thanks, Erasa. I mean, I really appreciate it."

Erasa just smiled back at him. _"He's so cute when he does that," _she thought to herself.

They walked for around fifteen minutes to the train station before Gohan stopped.

"What's the matter, cutie?" she asked him.

She was feeling slightly calmer now that she had a few minutes to process what just happened.

Again, Gohan scratched the back of his head, laughed and said, "Aha, ahaha, ahahaha. Actually, I've never taken the train in my life before! Hahaha."

He had a rough idea of what to do from reading books, but he had never actually taken the train before so he was stuck. He wanted to go to Bulma's house to ask her to lend him a jet copter.

He knew that Erasa already knows about his strength, but she has yet to know that he could fly, so he wanted to keep that as a secret for as long as he could until she eventually finds out after living with him for a while. He also wanted to talk to Bulma and explain the situation to her so that his God-mother could give Chichi a call in advance and explain what was going on, otherwise, he was sure that his mother would skin him alive for bringing a girl home.

"Uh… uhm… Well, you see…" he stumbled around looking for words to say.

Erasa knew that Gohan was about to tell a lie. It was obvious that he was a very bad liar, but she waited for him to come up with a lie anyway. She didn't really mind. To her, she was already madly in love with the young half-Saiyan and she would follow him to the ends of the Universe if she had to without doubting him for a second. In fact, she wouldn't even be surprised to find out if he was an alien and would just keep on loving him unconditionally. Such was the power of love that manifested itself within Erasa.

"Yeah, that's right! I'm going to my God-mother's to borrow a jet copter."

"Huh? Don't you have one already?"

"Um… well… let's see… oh yes. I have one. But it's a one-seater, so I'll have to borrow one that can seat both of us."

Knowing that it was a lie, Erasa didn't ask questions anyway and just followed Gohan blindly.

Soon, the pair encountered a large problem. Gohan didn't know exactly how to use the subway and, despite Erasa teaching him how the system worked, Gohan had never taken the public transport to visit Capsule Corporation, so he drew a blank.

"Let's see…" he mumbled to himself while staring at the map. "This line is yellow – not that that helps – and this line is green…"

Erasa just stood behind him as a few passers-by looked at them strangely.

Gohan scratched his head with both hands in frustration.

"Argh! Why is this so complicated?" he exclaimed. Then he thought to himself, _"Man now I know how it feels like to be Vegeta right now, wanting to blast this map to smithereens!"_

He calmed himself down and spent a few more minutes trying to make sense of the train lines when he felt a tap on his back.

"Hm? What's up, Erasa?"

"Not Erasa," a familiar voice said.

Gohan turned around and came face to face with a brown haired, green eyed girl.

"Lime!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Hi there," Lime smiled. "Need any help?"

Noticing that Lime was there, Erasa walked over and greeted her.

"Oh my, oh my, am I interrupting your date?" Lime teased.

Gohan blushed and stammered, "Ah, n-no! We're… we're not on a date. Right, Erasa?"

He turned to Erasa looking for support, but Erasa just added to Lime's teasing by entangling her arm around his and lifting up her bag to show Lime before saying, "That's right. We're not dating. We're eloping."

She then winked at Lime who got the message and went with the flow.

"Oh my! Wow, I never knew you had it in you, Gohan," she nudged him with her elbow. "Anyway, it looks like you need help. May the honorable Lao Lime be of assistance to you two young elopers?"

Gohan was about to deny that Erasa and him were eloping again, but Erasa cut in and said, "Yeah. That would be great, Lime. So where were we going, Gohan?"

"Ah… um… Capsule Corporation."

"Capsule Corporation!?" exclaimed both Erasa and Lime.

"Well," a recovering Lime started. "I don't know why you're going there, but it's on the Green Line five stops from here. After you get down from the station, walk about ten minutes east and you won't miss it."

"Gee, thanks, Lime. You're a life saver," Gohan smiled at her. "By the way, what are you doing out here on a Saturday?"

Lime smiled as she revealed a Chinese dress beneath her overcoat and twirled around. "Tada! Look, it's a _cheongsam_! I work for a famous chain of Chinese restaurants every afternoon on weekdays and from 5pm to 12am every weekend."

Erasa looked at her with worry.

"Aren't you pushing yourself too much, Lime?"

Lime just gave them a cheerful smile and dismissed her worries.

"Nah. My grandpa works hard alone back at home to send me here. The least I can do is ease his burden by helping with the rent."

It didn't escape both Gohan and Erasa's notice that she had a pained expression while saying that, but they didn't press the matter. Whatever it was, it seemed like a sensitive topic to talk about.

As they said their goodbyes, Gohan wondered if anything happened to the old man, Mr. Lao, back in Chazke Village in the past seven years.

On the other hand, Lime's interest with Gohan grew. Not only did he have the same name as the boy she met seven years ago, his expression was also different from Erasa's when she mentioned her grandfather. While Erasa showed a face of sympathy, worry crossed Gohan's face. It was almost as if he had met her grandfather before. But that couldn't be possible, could it?

* * *

The sun had set by the time they arrived at the front doors of Capsule Corporation.

Erasa panted and put her bag down as soon as Gohan stopped walking.

They had been walking for only five minutes, but she was out of breath because Gohan walked too fast. Instead of leisurely walking the distance in ten minutes, Gohan brisk walked and completed the journey in five while Erasa had to half run to keep up with him.

It was getting late and Gohan was worried that his mother would over-react so he was in a hurry to get to Bulma's and explain the situation as soon as he could.

Stepping through the automatic doors, Erasa felt a cool breeze and thanked the legendary Dr. Briefs for inventing the air-conditioner. She didn't mention it to anyone, but she was a great fan of the Briefs family and someday hoped to become a scientist like them.

It was her first time visiting the Capsule Corporation and she marveled at the size of the place. Her parent's house was huge, but it felt like she could fit two hundred of that in here and still have room to spare!

She wondered what business Gohan had at Capsule Corporation as not even her father - who was quite well known in the business world – nor Videl could gain entry into the place and yet, here Gohan was waltzing into the place as if it was his own backyard!

As soon as they entered, they were greeted by the receptionist who seemed to be an acquaintance of Gohan's.

"Gohan! Hiya, there. Here to see my boss?" she said familiarly.

"Hey, Secretary. Yeah. And could you tell her that I'm with a friend please?"

Secretary looked behind Gohan and saw Erasa standing there, scanning the room with her eyes almost popping out. She smirked at Erasa's facial expressions and she knew that the young blonde was burning every image of the place into her mind.

"Sure thing, Gohan. Would you like to go to your room or would you like to wait here?"

"I'll wait in my room, thanks. I have something to discuss with Bulma."

Secretary nodded her understanding and called her boss and informed her of Gohan's visit. She knew that Gohan came by often to help Bulma with her calculations when the eccentric scientist was too busy designing something new to invent and so, she was used to having him come over and discuss matters in strict confidentiality, though today, the reason seemed different altogether.

Gohan led Erasa through the hallways of Capsule Corporation and tried his best to give her a detailed description of the rooms that they passed by.

"If you continue down that way from the receptionist, you'll find yourself in the Atrium. That's where the Brief family pets are housed. The Atrium also leads to the Capsule Room where production of the DynoCaps technology and all the items inside them are made."

As they continued, Gohan led Erasa through an elevator.

"That's the first floor. Guests only get access to the first floor. Other than the first floor, there's the Basement, the 2nd Floor and the 3rd Floor. The Basement and the 2nd Floor is strictly for family members only and can only be accessed by a Red Card. The 3rd Floor leads to the East and West Towers and is available to Staff Members who hold Blue Cards."

As the elevator reached the 2nd Floor, Gohan swiped a Red Card through the reinforced, Saiyan-steel doors.

There were once staff members who tried to break through the family quarters using brute force so the Briefs created artificial Saiyan-steel using the data obtained from researching the Saiyan's spaceship. Of course, it wasn't as strong as the original, but it was definitely an improvement from the normal steel found on Earth. In fact, it was at least twenty times stronger than Carbyne which is the hardest material known to man, so no one had been able to walk through the 2nd Floor unless they were a family member of the Briefs – and for good reason too, seeing that a chance encounter with Vegeta would definitely be detrimental to whoever breaks through.

In a way, the reinforced Saiyan-steel was placed to prevent damage to outsiders, not to the ones who lived there.

As Gohan explained as he walked along, Erasa's head turned to every direction as she tried to take in as much as she could. Her mind was too busy trying to retain the images and information as much as she could in case this was the last time she was allowed through here. She was so preoccupied in fact, that she didn't even ask Gohan why he knew all of this and why he had access to the Brief's personal floor.

The tour ended when Gohan entered a room towards the end of the 2nd Floor.

This was his exclusive room whenever he came by to stay, while his mother, father and even young Goten had their own rooms as well. He sat down on the bed and offered a chair for Erasa to sit on.

There was a few minutes of silence while Erasa digested all that she had seen until the silence was broken by a knock on the door.

"Come in!"

"Gohan! My, what a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect you to start bringing home women already after just one week of school," his God-mother, Bulma, joked.

Erasa just sat there speechless for a few seconds before she snapped out of it and stood up hastily to offer her hand.

"H-hi! My name is E-erasa. I'm ve-very p-pleased to meet you, M-ms. Briefs," she stammered.

She couldn't believe it. She was now in front of the richest woman, no, the richest human in the planet far richer than Mr. Satan and offering to shake her hand!

Bulma took her hand, shook it and said, "Please, call me Bulma. And it's Mrs. Briefs, by the way – though I'd be glad if you didn't tell that to the public."

"Huh? I didn't know you were married, Mrs. Briefs."

"Bulma. And, yes. I'm already married. For a few years now," she laughed. "I even have an eight year old son!"

Erasa couldn't believe it. Bulma's figure was still as though she had never had a child before! Little did she know that Bulma maintained her figure due to the rigorous _exercise_ that she went through in bed with the Prince of Saiyans. Besides that, Erasa also couldn't believe that she missed out on knowing that THE Bulma Briefs, richest and most influential human in the planet had gotten married and had a child.

"Ah, but I've never heard you've gotten married, Mrs. Brie- I mean, Bulma. And I hope it's not too rude to ask, but why did you choose to keep your family's surname?"

"Of course not. I never made it public. And I don't really know. 'Mrs. Bulma Vegeta' didn't exactly sound right, so I decided to keep my family's surname."

"Uh… Bulma," Gohan tried to join the conversation. "I kind of have something important to talk to you about."

"Oh, that's right! How does Gohan know you personally?" exclaimed Erasa. She was so excited at finding out more about the man that she loved as well as the woman that she idolized.

"Oh, that? Gohan's my God-son. His father and I have been best friends since I was a teenager and when he was just a boy. Well, at least, I consider myself his best friend. He considers that short baldy his best friend," Bulma lamented.

"Wow! Gohan, I didn't know that! Why didn't you tell us?" Erasa said.

"Well, um… I-"

"Excuse my God-son, Erasa, he's a very bad liar. But I would be really grateful if you could keep anything you find out about him a secret. Do it as a favor for him and me, please?"

Erasa didn't understand why there's a big need for such secrecy, but she had already given Gohan her word earlier and she never once thought about going back on it. She knew that this was not all and that Gohan was hiding more secrets, but she was content with what she knew and did not intend to delve further, so she nodded her head.

Bulma smiled. The blonde girl was very easy to talk to. She thought that Erasa would make a good girlfriend for Gohan.

"So what did you want to talk about, tiger?" she asked Gohan.

"Actually, Erasa got kicked out of her house and it's kind of my fault so I offered to let her stay in my house, but I'm worried that mum would start shooting her or be nasty to her if I just came home like that so I was wondering if you could contact her and explain the situation for me," Gohan said sheepishly.

"Hmm… I can imagine Chichi doing that," Bulma contemplated the thought. "So tell me, how was it your fault?"

And so, Gohan told his God-mother the whole story starting from when he rang the doorbell. When he finished, Bulma sat in silence for a bit as she processed the information that was given to her.

She thought about it, and no matter how many times she changed her point of view, she could only conclude that it wasn't Gohan's but in fact, it was actually Erasa's fault that she got kicked out and disowned, but she didn't voice that aloud. She has yet to hear Erasa's side of the story and so she refrained from saying anything rash.

For now, she could see that the girl had been through a tough ordeal and so she let the matter slide.

"Alright. I'll explain the situation to Chichi," she finally said. "I know I'll be able to convince her, so rest assured, honey –" she referred to Erasa, "We're all on your side. Come by anytime when you need me, alright?"

In her mind, Erasa was the first girl that Gohan had brought home, so she didn't discount the possibility of them dating in the future despite it starting off as Gohan simply helping the poor girl. And so, she treated Erasa like she was already part of the family.

"Is that really alright?" Erasa asked.

It was an honor and a privilege for her to be able to meet THE Bulma Briefs once in her life, but now she was saying that she could come and visit her anytime! Though she didn't fall in love with Gohan for that reason, she was grateful to him even more for the opportunity.

"Of course, dear. In fact," Bulma pulled out a wallet, a Red Card and a DynoCap. "This is a prototype jet copter that's just been made today. Since you'll be living with the Sons now, you'll have to commute to school, so I prepared this for you. With this, you'll be able to get to school from there in an hour and a half. Pretty neat, huh? This Red Card's so that you can have access to the family quarters of Capsule Corporation the next time you come and visit. I'll tell Secretary to recognize you next time and prepare a room for you here as well. Also, in the wallet's some pocket money for you. I put in a bit of extra so you can buy yourself some clothes seeing that you only managed to salvage a few. You might not know it, but Gohan and his family are just getting by so use the money sparingly until you get yourself a job, alright?"

For the second time that day, tears welled up on Erasa's eyes but, unlike the tears she shed earlier, this time, they were tears of joy. She couldn't believe how nice Bulma and Gohan were being to her. It was as if they were her real family members unlike the parents that she had just left behind.

Thanking Bulma profusely, Erasa left with Gohan on her new jet copter and undertook an hour and a half ride to the 439 East District area.

She was wary of how Gohan's mother will react to her imposing, but little did she know that she had a nice and peaceful life waiting ahead for her at the Son residence.

* * *

_End of Chapter Seven_

_To be continued...  
_

**A/N: **If you are confused on why the story is leaning heavily on Erasa's side, good. It's all according to plan -evil laugh-.

_No, seriously, the story isn't going to end anytime soon. There's still Lime's and Videl's side of the story to explore so don't be too quick to make a judgement. Thank you for your patience and please keep reading and reviewing :)_


	8. Chapter Eight: A New Life

**Chapter Eight: A New Life**

Chapter Notes:

**A/N:**

* * *

Steam rose from the pots and the chefs in the kitchen were running around like headless chickens in the process of trying to complete their work on time.

It was a well-known fact that the 'Mandarin Duck' was one of the most venerated Chinese restaurants in the whole of Satan City and the amount of customers it got every day was not a trifle.

Starting from a humble background, through its 'food-made-from-home' recipes, the owner managed to attract a lot of customers from moved from East City to Satan City. These people later became their regular patrons thus providing the owner with enough funds to start another branch and market his business until eventually it grew into the well-known chain of restaurants that it is today.

Lime walked briskly, carefully maneuvering her way through tables and customers' feet while expertly carrying five dishes of food.

On her way to work, she encountered Gohan and Erasa and something about the young man piqued her interest. Though, now was not the time to ponder about that, so she concentrated on delivering the customers' orders to their table.

She was doing very well and was on her umpteenth delivery when a hand shot out of nowhere and squeezed her bum.

Shocked and surprised at the same time, she dropped the plates that she was carrying and slapped whoever it was on the face.

As the plates hit the floor with a loud 'crash', people's heads turned towards her direction.

The man in a perfect business suit who groped Lime's arse clutched his face in pain. There was a red mark where Lime slapped him, but more importantly, he felt like he was hit by a brick!

With tears in his eyes, he exclaimed, "HEY! What the hell?"

Lime's eyebrows furrowed in anger and she shot back, "'What the hell' yourself, you pervert! I know it was you who touched my arse just now."

"I did not!" the man denied. "Don't accuse me of such bull just because you dropped those plates, you lousy waitress!"

"You liar!" an exasperated Lime retorted. "We can check the surveillance cameras if you want."

Knowing that he was caught, the man shut up and could only glare back at Lime as a large man wearing Chinese clothing walked over to their table. Around this man's chest was a name-tag showing his name and his position.

"What seems to be the problem here, Sir?" the man enquired calmly despite the situation.

The man opened and closed his mouth like a fish and was just about to speak when Lime beat him to it.

"Manager, this man groped my arse and committed a form of sexual harassment towards me!"

"I did not! A lowly waitress like you dares to accuse me of such insolence? And more importantly, I can have you sued for assault and physical violence!"

The man knew that he was at fault, but it was for the sake of keeping his pride that he denied the accusation.

"As I said, go ahead and check the camera," Lime said smugly.

The manager cut in and said, "Sir, I deeply apologize for this, but if you could please come with me for a moment…"

He led the man through the crowd of people into his office with Lime following closely behind. Then he opened his computer and rewinded the camera by a few minutes.

Now, the owner knew that he couldn't be stingy on the infrastructure of the building and he also had to meet industry standards by paying for expensive exhaust pipes, kitchen stoves, refrigerators, etc. He also wanted to project a professional look to attract his customers so he spent a fair bit of capital on the plates and other utensils to be of a premium grade and design. Also, he knew that there were jobs available everywhere and so he had to pay his staff a higher wage to retain them, which explains why Lime worked there. As such, despite the advanced technology at that time, the owner tried to cut down on the rest of his expenses by only paying for the basic, low-end surveillance cameras used in the restaurant.

These cameras were fine for recording faces of people in case of a robbery, but the videos it took were choppy and wasn't enough to capture an arse groping that happened for only a fraction of a second.

Thus, against his better judgement, the manager had to apologize to the man despite his caring for his staff's well-being, but, using the lack of evidence to his advantage, the man insisted, "I want this girl fired or I will sue this company for false accusations!"

The nerve of the guy!

With that, the manager had no choice but to dismiss Lime in front of the man. However, afterwards when the man had left, he apologized to the brown haired girl and attempted to employ her again but Lime declined.

Lime, after witnessing people from her village hail Mr. Satan as a hero and be blinded by him that the Z-fighters were fakes despite them seeing first-hand that the so called 'light tricks' were real, could only wonder what the world had come to. After Mr. Satan's lies and this incident, her faith in humanity further diminished.

Knowing that incidents like this could happen again if she continued working in the 'Mandarin Duck', she declined the offer and worried about getting a new job to support herself.

* * *

Up on Kami's Lookout, Dende shook his head.

Humans are creatures driven by their emotions.

_"Sure, there are humans that are logical and have better control over themselves, but nobody is perfect and there will come a time when even the most reasonable and logical person will have his shortcomings,"_ Dende concluded.

He had witnessed many scenes where unreasonable humans got their way and, in fact, he had also witnessed how Erasa got disowned and kicked out of her house. During all those times, he wanted to intervene but alas, he knew that he couldn't mess with the natural order of life.

Everything happened for a reason.

Dende, as the Guardian of the Earth, knew this and so, he could only intervene when the balance of good and evil between humans was tipped too much to one side otherwise he couldn't directly interfere with how fate worked. Therefore, he could only sigh and continue silently observing the world.

* * *

The sleek, brand new, prototype jet copter landed on the grass patch near the Son residence.

It was already dark by the time they had arrived and Gohan, despite cursing silently and impatiently to himself throughout the whole journey about the machine's speed, still found space in his heart to thank his God-mother for inventing a faster version of the jet copters out in the market because otherwise, it would have took them longer to arrive at their destination.

As soon as they arrived, Gohan led Erasa through the front door of his house without knocking.

_"The house is small, but it's well maintained and cozy," _remarked Erasa as she entered the house while noticing the wonderful smell of cooking.

The moment they entered, Chichi rushed from inside the kitchen to greet her son.

"Gohan, you're finally home!" she said. "I've heard everything from Bulma."

Turning to the blonde girl, she said, "And you must be Erasa. Oh this is so exciting! I'm going to have grandchildren at last!"

Truth be told, Chichi's initial reaction when she found out that Gohan was coming home with a girl was far from what it was now.

* * *

During the conversation on the phone with Bulma, Chichi bit through her handkerchief and cried, "My baby is eloping with a girl!"

Then, through clenched teeth, she angrily said, "Bulma, I can't believe you encouraged my baby to do such a thing. Shame on you! The moment they reach here, I will tell that shameless hussy to keep her hands off my baby and send her back where she came from."

Then she added, "If Gohan didn't need a high school qualification to go to university, I wouldn't have sent him to high school in the first place! I mean, it's just a piece of paper! Can't you just forge one for him and sign it, Bulma? That should be enough, shouldn't it? Do that, while I call the school and inform them of Gohan's withdrawal."

Bulma already expected this reaction and said, "Calm down, Chichi. You're over-reacting to the situation."

"I AM PERFECTLY CALM YOU BLUE HAIRED WOMAN!"

Holding the phone at hand's length, Bulma waited until Chichi had spoken her mind.

When she was sure that her good friend had finished talking, she put the phone back to her ear and continued, "Think about it, Chichi. Aren't you glad that you raised your son to be so gentle, caring and kind hearted? Don't you think that it's good that he saved a young, teenage girl from being kicked out into the street?"

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT HE HAS TO BRING HER HOME!" Chichi shouted before crying emotionally and saying, "Only the first week of school and my poor baby's already bringing home women. Uwaaaa…"

Sensing that Chichi couldn't be convinced with the normal approach, Bulma decided to take drastic measures.

"Look, Chichi, I'm growing old. And you're growing old. What do you think would happen if Gohan married when he's in his late twenties or thirties? You would have less time to spend with your grandkids then, wouldn't you? In fact, he might decide to postpone having kids for five more years even after he marries at that age. You might even die before you meet your grandchildren!"

There was a few seconds of silence in the phone before Bulma heard Chichi's voice again, this time, with a tone different from the angry one that she had.

"Oh my Dende! You're right. Oh, this is so exciting. I'm going to have to start planning for names…"

Bulma sighed in relief. It appeared that her threat had worked and, somehow, she had successfully convinced the somewhat psychotic wife of her best friend to concede with letting Erasa stay in her house.

* * *

"Moooom!" Gohan groaned. "We're not in a relationship like that! Erasa's just a friend!"

Erasa's felt like she was just stabbed through the heart, but she knew that what Gohan said was true, though, a part of her hoped that there was room for a change of heart in the young half-Saiyan.

Chichi, on the other hand, dismissed her son's words and said, "Oh hush. Is he taking care of you properly, dear? Tell me how you two met. Oh, this is amazing! My son, bringing home a beautiful girl – I'm the world's happiest mother!"

Attacked by a barrage of words from Chichi, Erasa could only be bewildered and stammer, "Um… I… wha-?"

As Gohan tried to continue his denial, Chichi just grabbed the young blonde's hands and led her through to the second floor.

"...that right there is mine and my husband's room. And right across is Gohan and his younger brother's room. Oh, I'm sorry dear, I would love to let you both stay in the same room and have time to yourselves," she said suggestively, "But Gohan's younger brother is rather attached to him so I can't make him stay in another room."

She ushered a rather bewildered Erasa through a third room which contained a large bed that could probably be slept in by five people.

"Right. This is the guest room. It's normally used by my father whenever he visits, but it's all yours from now on. If my father ever comes by, I'll just make him sleep on the couch."

With that, she told Erasa that she had to continue with cooking dinner and bid her a short farewell.

* * *

Somewhere in Chazke Village, an old man coughed.

He covered his mouth with his hand only to find that blood had dyed his palm red.

He was dying.

Mr. Lao was dying and he knew it. He felt it in his bones and he knew that his time was almost up. He thought back and blamed it on his age. He was 102 years old though he didn't look like it. Living in an area free from the air pollution, eating healthy, fresh food from the mountains, drinking natural and clean water and exercising daily, he managed to preserve his life longer but even that wouldn't be enough to stop the course of nature.

Seven years ago he wouldn't have minded passing away. He was glad to have lived up to 95 at that time and still manage to retain his physical abilities unlike most elderly people who lived in the cities. However, an incident happened that would change his and his granddaughter's lives.

A monster known as Cell had come to the world and killed his son and his daughter-in-law's lives.

They were revived through the Dragon Balls, but they died again shortly after in a car crash.

Having no other relatives, he took care of Lime and worked long hours as a shopkeeper in his general store. When he had free time, he would also do odd jobs - mostly which required physical labor.

Now, he was nearing the end of his life but he held on, hoping to at least see his granddaughter complete her education. It was then that he and Lime watched the news and heard of the Golden Fighter.

He knew from experience that this mysterious crime fighter was the boy that he had met seven years ago. Lime seemed to know that too and so, she tried to convince him to send her to Satan City in the hopes of meeting and settling down with the mysterious figure, though, he didn't really need convincing. He knew that the boy would be perfect for his granddaughter. He knew that if they ended up together, the boy would take care of Lime.

So, he decided to pool up his savings to send her to Satan City. He didn't have much, but it was enough to send her to a cheap homestay.

Lime knew this. She knew that her grandfather was dying and she knew that despite that, he still worked himself to the ground to support her, and so, she decided to work part-time to help her grandfather pay for the rent and support herself through high school.

As Mr. Lao reflected, a tinkling sound could be heard signaling that a customer had come.

"Welcome! How may I help you?" he said hoarsely. His voice was not how it used to be. "Ah, it's you, Sherry."

A dark haired girl entered the store. In her hands, she carried a lunch box.

"You're always working so hard, Mr. Lao. Here, take this lunch box. It's the least I can give you for your efforts," she said somewhat shyly.

Mr. Lao smiled and accepted the lunch box. The teen had been visiting him for about a year now and had always given him a boxed lunch much to Lime's chagrin. He knew that he shouldn't be accepting the lunch box, but the girl had cried when he rejected the first time and so, he continued accepting these lunch boxes even after Lime had left.

Mr. Lao thought that he was coughing blood and dying because of his old age, but in fact, that wasn't the case.

As soon as she had left the general store, Sherry looked around to see if anyone was watching her. When she was sure that it was safe, she made her way to the rubble that used to be the Protective Dome.

"Have you given him the lunch box?" a short, dark haired man asked.

"Yes, Mr. Borbonne," she confirmed. "Now, as per usual…"

The short con-man nodded his head and handed the girl a wad of cash.

Then, he smiled cruelly and thought to himself, "Soon, my revenge to that girl - the brat who spoiled my plans will be complete."

* * *

Dinner came and Erasa found herself sitting in front of a battlefield.

She tried taking her share of the food when, out of nowhere, a hand would grab the dish before she could even touch it. This happened continuously for a while before she eventually put down her spoon and fork and gave up.

"Huh, why aren't you eating, honey?" Chichi asked her. "Did you want chopsticks as well?"

"Ah, no. I don't even know how to use them," she replied politely.

She still felt awkward about living with Gohan and it still didn't seem real to her.

Goten chose that moment to speak with his mouth full of food.

"Rhat? Ru ron't know haff to ruse ropschtix?"

"Goten! How many times have I told you not to speak with your mouth full?" she said after she hit him on the head with a ladle before adding, "Shame on you, young man."

Goten swallowed his food in one big gulp and said, "Sorry, mum," before addressing Erasa.

"You don't know how to use chopsticks?" he said eyes wide with astonishment. He had been taught how to properly use them since he was a child so he couldn't believe that someone would not know how to use them.

A tiny bead of sweat poured down from Erasa's head down to her temple as she tried to not be embarrassed.

"Well, I lived in a Western home and so I've always used spoons and forks my whole life."

Goten furrowed his brows in thought and smiled widely.

"No biggie! I'll teach you."

He scooted over to sit beside Erasa before he forced her to hold a pair of chopsticks.

"You know, bro, you really shouldn't be forcing her since she can just use a spoon and a fork."

"Shut up, you meanie! You told me that you were going to play with me when you come home, but you never did," Goten pouted.

"Now, now, Goten. Be nice. I've already told you that Gohan had to save this young girl."

"Oh yeah. That's right! Mummy said you're going to be my big sister!" Goten beamed as he looked at Erasa with eyes full of respect.

At this, both Erasa and Gohan blushed before Goten continued.

"Alright, brother, I forgive you. But you have to play with me after dinner, okay?"

Forgetting to deny that statement, Gohan smiled and patted Goten's head. "Sure thing, squirt."

And so, Gohan and Goten finished eating their dinner and Erasa was joined by Chichi on the table.

They both watched as Goten presented Gohan with a rubber ball which Gohan took and threw around the house gently while yelling "Fetch!"

She was quite amused at this sight and Goten reminded her greatly of a puppy, when all of a sudden, Chichi bombarded her with a series of questions specifically about how she and Gohan met and avoiding sensitive topics like about her parents and her home.

After Chichi was done grilling her, I mean… when Chichi was satisfied, Erasa excused herself and took a long hot bath while thinking to herself, _"Is this really alright?"_

She was happy staying with the Son family but she was conflicted. _ "They seem to accept me so well, but I'm worried."_

She thought that the more Gohan's family accepted her, the harder it would be for them to accept Videl when the time came and her and Gohan did start going out with each other. This conflict within herself kept on going until she entered a troubled sleep.

* * *

It was dark.

And in that darkness, a light shone.

The light revealed a crying little girl. She had long, waist-length blonde hair like her father's, but her eyes were blue like her mother's, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that she felt alone. Neither her mother nor her father cared for her.

It was so cold.

And then, another light appeared.

The other light revealed a raven haired girl. She had a frown on her face like the one she always had when they grew up, but when she noticed the blonde girl, she walked over to her, held out her hand and smiled.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

The blonde girl sniffled and told her story, and the raven haired girl nodded sympathetically then hugged her and said, "It will be all right. I'm here… I'm your friend."

Then she took out a large pair of scissors and looked at the blonde haired girl menacingly.

The blonde girl screamed in horror and tried to push the raven haired girl away but the girl was too strong and she stood steadfast ready to use the pair of scissors.

"Don't worry… I'm your friend."

* * *

Gohan had finished showering when he heard Erasa scream.

He rushed over to her room and gently shook her awake.

"Erasa… Erasa!" he raised his voice.

Erasa jolted awake, her body shivering.

"Gohan, I-"she sobbed as she remembered the vivid dream that she just had.

Gohan just made a shushing noise and embraced her in his arms while saying, "It's alright. It's just a nightmare. I'm here now."

He did so because he genuinely cared for his friend's well-being. Not knowing what she was dreaming about, he assumed that Erasa was still traumatized by the events that afternoon and so he took it upon himself to console her, but, for some reason, he found himself wanting to kiss her on the forehead.

And he did.

* * *

_End of Chapter Eight_

_To be continued..._


	9. Chapter Nine: Videl vs Lime

**Chapter Nine: Videl vs Lime**

Chapter Notes:  


For those who don't know, in an interview, Akira Toriyama revealed that Hercule Satan is actually Mr. Satan's stage name.

His real name is Mark Satan which, in Japanese, is read as _Maaku__ Satan_. This is an anagram of _akuma_ which means 'devil', thus, keeping the theme of the Satan family names.

**A/N: **-

* * *

It was chilly the next morning and Erasa found herself waking up in an unfamiliar bed.

Then, she remembered that she had actually been disowned and kicked out of her own house and now, she was living with the Sons.

She sat up, rubbed the sleep off her eyes and hugged her knees.

Last night, she had a nightmare. It had elements vaguely about her childhood when she had longer hair. She shivered at the memory of the nightmare but recounted how Gohan shook her and woke her up before hugging her and kissing her on the forehead.

She blushed.

What could it have meant? Did Gohan perhaps have feelings for her as well?

She shook her head and lightly slapped her face with both hands.

It couldn't be. She knew that Gohan was a kind guy who cared for his loved ones and his friends deeply. It probably didn't mean anything other than to comfort her. In her heart, however, she hoped that it wasn't the case. She clung to a tiny hope that it meant what she thought it was.

* * *

Son Gohan woke up three hours later to the smell of fried rice.

He got up, took care of his personal hygiene and went downstairs only to be greeted by his mother shooing him away.

"Gohan," she said. "Go out there and take care of the radish farm. Go. Go!"

"But mum!" he argued. "I haven't had my breakfast yet."

It was usual for him to have his breakfast first thing in the morning before he took care of household chores and taking care of the radish farm.

"Don't argue with me, young man. Go out there and take care of those radishes or there will be no breakfast for you, mister!"

Not wanting to compromise his chance of having breakfast, Gohan resigned himself to a slow jog outside before he was greeted by the familiar sight of the neat rows of leaves.

He smiled to himself.

After defeating Cell, he felt like he was the strongest being in the Universe.

After he started going to Orange Star High School, he felt like he was the smartest person among all of the students his age.

It felt like there was nothing more to achieve other than to continue training with Vegeta or to study further and try to become as smart as Bulma - which, he knew was impossible.

As such, the only thing that he felt achievement at was by working hard and watching the family's radish farm grow.

He took a rake and took care of the weeds that grew near the radishes before he watered the whole area.

He didn't bother using insecticide because him and Chichi normally shipped the radishes as 100% organic products.

It didn't take him more than ten minutes to take care of such a large area of grown radishes, but he made a mental note to himself to watch out for Erasa the next time that he did this task. He didn't want her to find out yet that he could move at inhuman speeds.

When he was done, he made his way back to the little dome shaped house.

"Gohan, we're not done yet. Why don't you go outside and play with your younger brother?"

"Aw, but mum… I'm hungry."

Chichi only scowled at him and said, "This is a good exercise to control your hunger, young man. I'm sure you can hold it for about thirty more minutes."

"Th-thirty minutes!?"

There was a shocked expression on Gohan's face and his body posture said it all.

"What could you possibly be doing out there that would take thirty minutes?"

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out. Now go and play with your younger brother," Chichi insisted.

Gohan could only be dispirited. As his shoulders slumped, he called out to his brother passively.

"Alright, squirt. I guess you and me will have to play for thirty minutes."

Goten too, pouted. He had not had breakfast as well, so instead of enthusiastically taking up the offer, he only mumbled a weak, "Okay" before him and Gohan went out to the fields.

* * *

Chichi peeked outside the window and watched as her two sons disappeared into a cluster of trees.

When she was sure that they weren't coming back because they forgot something, she finally turned back and said, "Alright, the coast is clear."

Erasa had been in the kitchen the whole time, stirring the food that was frying in the pan and making sure than none of it got stuck or burnt.

She had woken up at five o'clock in the morning unknowingly due to the cold and had woken Chichi through the sound of her showering.

Chichi, instead of being angry for being woken up, only smiled at her. In her head, the thoughts of Bulma's threat about dying before meeting her grandchildren were still fresh and so, she was glad to wake up and see her potential daughter-in-law the first thing in the morning.

"Gee, Mrs. Son. It's cold today," Erasa remarked.

She still felt awkward about staying with the Son Family so she found herself not knowing how to start a conversation with Chichi.

Chichi chuckled and replied, "Well, that's how it is everyday, dear. Don't forget, we live beside a river and at the foot of Mount Paozu so it's only natural. Oh, and please, call me Chichi."

She looked at the time and noted that she had only been woken up ten minutes early from her normal routine and so, she offered to teach Erasa how to cook.

Coming from a rich family, Erasa had never had to cook in her life. That and the feeling of not wanting to simply be a free loader plus her wanting to learn how to cook the food that the man she loved ate, she eagerly accepted the offer much to Chichi's delight.

The two of them had been at it since six o'clock in the morning and it was now two hours after that but it looked like they were nowhere near done.

"Um, do you normally do this everyday?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, dear. Everyday, rain or shine," Chichi laughed. "It's not a surprise if you look at my two boys' appetites."

Erasa looked at the knife that she was holding. She had been slicing pieces of meat and vegetables while Chichi cooked them. This was because she admitted to Chichi that she had never cooked before and so, Chichi taught her that she had to learn from the basics.

"_Wow, she must be very dedicated to her children if she did this everyday,_" she thought to herself.

It was that time that they were interrupted by Gohan and, after a while, Chichi managed to get rid of her son for a further thirty minutes.

Exactly thirty minutes after, Gohan and Goten raced each other home and was greeted by the usual sight of food.

"FOOD!" both of them exclaimed.

They had been holding their hunger in for thirty minutes and they were more than happy to sit down at the table to eat.

As soon as Gohan fed himself with his chopsticks, he noticed the subtle difference in the taste of the food.

"Mum, did you use a different recipe for cooking?" he asked politely.

The food tasted good, but not as good as how it normally was and so he had to ask as politely as he could to not hurt his mother's feelings.

"Oh. No, dear. See, Erasa helped me make breakfast today," Chichi said delightedly.

Gohan smiled. He thought the food tasted different. Not as good as how his mother normally made it, but it was still quite well done.

"Wow, Erasa. It's good! I never thought you could cook."

Erasa blushed and thanked him as she battled with Goten to grab her share of the meal.

"Actually," Chichi began. "Erasa has never cooked before. This is the first time."

"That's nice. Keep it up, Erasa."

"Oh, no. I only chopped the food and stirred it. Chichi did most of the work."

At this point, Goten interjected with a beaming face.

"Wow. You can cook? That's neat!"

Erasa felt a warm feeling in her chest. She felt a sense of achievement and made a mental note to continue learning how to cook under Chichi's tutelage.

* * *

Monday morning came and, as usual, our young half-Saiyan hero was deep in sleep when he was woken up by the usual 'klang!' of the frying pan.

"How long are you going to sleep, Gohan? You're going to be late!" his mother screeched.

"Seriously… I purposely bought you an alarm clock and you pound it to dust on the first day of school. Oh, why Dende? Why can't you be up on your own like Erasa?" she grumbled.

Gohan had gotten used to this by now and could only apologize to his mother before he did his usual morning routine and went down for breakfast.

Halfway through eating, he realized that there was one person missing from the table.

"Hey, where's Erasa?" he asked.

Chichi, who was sipping coffee in her '#1 Wife' mug which Goku had gotten for her birthday, said, "Well, she can't fly so she had to wake up earlier than you and leave earlier for school using the new jet copter that Bulma gave her."

"Right," Gohan said, chewing through a piece of toast. "Um, about that. I haven't exactly told her all of my secrets yet, so is it possible to keep as much of them as we can? I know she'll eventually find out, but I hope that won't be until she's ready to accept them."

Chichi nodded. She understood how a normal human would react if she was suddenly exposed to all of their family secrets and she didn't want to scare away her possible future daughter-in-law.

"You heard your elder brother, young man!" she barked at Goten.

Poor little Goten didn't really know what was going on, but he acknowledged anyway.

"Yes, mummy."

* * *

Gohan arrived at school late as usual.

He didn't have to fight crime that morning, but he was given the usual morning chase by Videl.

As soon as he entered the classroom, he immediately took his usual seat beside Erasa who greeted him as usual.

He was thankful that Erasa was a very good actor and she acted as though everything was normal and nothing had happened.

Videl arrived a few minutes after him and continued her observation of him just as she had last week.

In her mind, she was thinking about how she couldn't find any lead into Gohan's private life and so, she vowed to observe him ever more vigilantly from now on.

Beside Videl, Lime was more quiet than how she was that Friday when she transferred in.

She was worried that she hadn't managed to get a job yet despite one day of thoroughly looking through the newspapers and scouting the city for job vacancies.

Of course, Videl noted this behaviour down as well as she continued to investigate about the Golden Warrior and the Great Saiyaman. Gohan and Lime were her two main leads and she couldn't afford losing them.

* * *

A few boring lessons afterwards, Gohan found himself welcoming the sound of the bell that signalled the start of lunch.

As usual, while he was wondering what his mother had packed for him, he was invited by Erasa to join herself and Videl for lunch.

"Hey, cutie," she said flirtingly. "Wanna join us for lunch?"

It was quite awkward for Gohan who was now living under the same roof with Erasa, but it did a great job of making the situation seem normal and fooled Videl and Lime.

However, both of them weren't blind.

As soon as Gohan had gotten out his lunch, he began inhaling his food as per usual, but Videl was the first to notice something.

"Hey, Erasa aren't you going to go and get your salad?" she observed.

"Oh, no. I made my own lunch today," she said in her usual high-pitched voice.

"Right… That's weird, because I thought you didn't know how to cook."

"Oh… you know. I thought it was about time I started just in case I wanted to get married," Erasa laughed nervously, sweat dripping down her temple.

Videl seemed to accept this reasoning and stood up to order her lunch when Lime too, noticed something.

"Hey, isn't your lunch the same as Gohan's?"

Gohan choked on his food and Videl stopped to thump his back, but that wasn't all of why she stopped to remain at the table instead of joining up the growing queue for her lunch.

"Yes, that's weird. Isn't it?" she glared at her best friend and at Gohan.

Something fishy was going on.

"I- uh… I'm sure it's all just a coincidence!" Gohan exclaimed.

Erasa felt like face-palming herself. She might accept Gohan's lies, but she knew Videl very well and there was hell to go through when her interest has been piqued.

"Really… a coincidence, huh?"

"If I'm not wrong, I saw both of them taking the train together last Saturday."

"Is that so?"

Camaraderie through the same goal!

Videl Satan and Lao Lime had formed an unspoken, temporary alliance between themselves despite their differences.

Throughout the whole of lunch, Erasa and Gohan found themselves being grilled by their friends and were both very thankful when the bell had finally chimed to signal the end of lunch.

Knowing Videl, however, they both knew that the questioning wasn't over yet.

* * *

Fortunately, Videl and Lime both seemed to drop the subject at the start of the next period and they enjoyed a relatively peaceful afternoon until P.E. arrived.

"A very good Monday to you, boys and girls!" an enthusiastic Mr. Neggerschwarze greeted them.

"Did you have a good weekend? Hm? Had a wonderful time watching TV shows and getting **fat**? Well, good news, ladies and gentlemen. Today, we're going to be doing…"

He paused for effect.

"Martial arts!"

As Gohan groaned, the rest of the class cheered.

Typical of teenage boys, they were glad to have an excuse to throw punches at each other while the girls were quite happy to be learning some self-defence.

For Lime and Videl however, they were simply glad that the time had come for their showdown to begin.

Sure, Lime had been laid off her job - and she was depressed about it, but not even that could contain her excitement to finally be able to test how strong the daughter of Mr. Satan was.

The same went for Videl. She wanted to protect her pride and she wanted to prove that she was stronger than the bragging of the new girl. That and she also looked forward to finding out the identity of the Golden Fighter if she won.

"Right," Mr. Neggerschwarze clapped his hands together. "All of you pair up with the same gender. Today will just be sparring sessions."

Gohan wanted to run out of the gym and skip the session, but he already had a horrible record, so he had no choice and found himself facing Ruler, the jock.

On the other hand, Erasa knew how strong Gohan was, so she wanted to parter up with him to help him keep his secret. However, that wasn't to be and so she found herself facing Angela in a sparring session.

* * *

"Scared?"

Lime tried to provoke her opponent Videl, but it didn't work.

Videl grinned.

"You wish."

As Mr. Neggerschwarze gave the signal, Lime found Videl dashing straight towards her.

She had been trained by her grandfather, Mr. Lao, in the art of combat and, unlike Videl, she had learnt how to sense and control her _ki_ (though she didn't know how to use it for _ki_ blasts or flying). She also had experience fighting with wild bears and other wild animals that roamed the mountains in the area where she lived.

This was a huge advantage, because unlike her, Videl only had experience fighting amateurs in her father's gym or criminals who didn't have a lot of strength and relied on guns. It was two completely different worlds altogether, and so, the difference in their strength was obvious.

While Videl tried to punch Lime, the brown-haired girl found that Videl's punches were either too slow or didn't have enough force in them. She sensed Videl's _ki_ and found that the raven-haired girl was far inferior to her in terms of strength.

It wasn't even a fight. It was a one-sided humiliation.

All, Lime did was side-step and grab Videl's arm and use her opponent's momentum to pin her down to the ground.

Of course, Videl saw that coming and tried to dodge, but Lime was too fast for her and, she found herself pinned down with a shoulder lock to the ground.

She tried to free herself from the lock, but Lime was too strong. It wasn't a surprise, because Lime had experience fighting bears that were twice as big, twice as strong and twice as fast as Videl.

"What's the matter? Is that all you have?" Lime sneered.

She really disliked Videl and her father to the point that she even considered popping Videl's shoulders out of their sockets.

Videl struggled to get herself free, but found that she couldn't.

Complete disgrace!

For the first time in her life, Videl had to concede defeat.

"What's the matter? If you're this weak, I can imagine how weak your father is."

Humiliated and her pride crushed, Videl found herself unable to retort back to Lime.

When Lime had pinned her down, she skinned her knee and so she used that as an excuse to go to the infirmary.

Gohan on the other hand, had lost purposely to Ruler.

He got himself hit on the face and pretended to be knocked backwards. He then pretended that his nose was injured and asked permission to go to the infirmary.

As he left, Lime looked at him.

"_Videl may have a weak ki, but this guy's ki is enormous! So much that it's scary to even think about it. But why would he be hiding his strength and pretend to lose? More importantly, I didn't know how to sense ki seven years ago, but I'm sure if I could, then the Gohan from back then would have the same amount of ki as this one."_

Son Gohan had been hiding his _ki_, no doubt. But no matter how much a person hid their _ki_, they would still exude a small amount of _ki_ and that amount was more than enough - compared to an average human - for Lime to form an opinion of how strong he was. In fact, Lime had formed a hypothesis that the Gohan that saved her from seven years before was the same one as the one now. Still, she couldn't explain the difference in the hair colour and eye colour unless Gohan dyed his hair and used coloured contact lenses seven years ago. And so, she decided not to question him about it until she had evidence.

* * *

Gohan walked into the infirmary while clutching his nose.

He had supposedly injured it and so he had to keep up the act all the way.

He hoped that the nurse wouldn't catch on to him faking an injury, but fortunately for him, the nurse was away.

Instead, he found himself alone in the room so he decided to have a lie down and take a nap.

"Sniffle."

He was hiding his _ki_ so he didn't manage to sense that someone else was already in there.

Someone was crying and, because he was too kind, he just had to poke his head in and try and console whoever it was.

Videl Satan.

Daughter of the man who saved the world from Cell.

Her pride had been damaged, but that wasn't the reason why she was crying.

When she was a young girl, her mother died and she was raised on the earnings of his father from winning the World Martial Arts Tournament. That was before Mark Satan 'defeated' Cell. At that time, his fame had already gotten to his head and with the loss of his wife, he bought home different women every night.

After he had 'defeated' Cell, he got worse and the strong man that Videl once admired became her ultimate goal.

Her toddler self once confronted her father, "Daddy! Stop going out with women other than mummy!"

Mr. Satan just laughed. His daughter was very precious to him, no doubt, but there were times when a man had to indulge in such pleasures and so, he joked with Videl.

Patting his young daughter's head, he said, "Alright, sweatpea. I'll make you a deal. If you can defeat me in a fight, then I'll stop going out with women."

That was many years ago.

Now, Mark Satan had forgotten his little joke, but Videl had always remembered.

When she was young, she thought if she trained hard enough, she certainly had a chance to defeat her father but, after he 'defeated' Cell, she thought that it was a mere dream when she thought she could beat her father in a fight.

Still, she clung to a small hope that one day, if she trained hard enough, she would actually have a chance. And so, she trained, and trained, and trained and dedicated her whole life to bettering herself so that one day she could beat her father.

Once she had grown too strong for the members of Mr. Satan's gym, she moved on to crime fighting to grow even stronger, but she still felt that it wasn't enough. She was still lacking.

And then, she discovered the Golden Fighter and the Great Saiyaman.

At first, she couldn't believe that someone could be so strong. She had been brainwashed by her father that all such feats were done by wires or light tricks, but after spending time fighting crime with the Great Saiyaman, she knew that this wasn't the case. In fact, she had begun to doubt her father due to that. Still, a part of her chose to believe in her father and, she thought that if she could corner the Golden Fighter or (in her words) the Buckethead, she could blackmail him to teach her how to fly - something which she deemed was a skill that would help her defeat her father.

That was the reason why she was so adamant in finding out who the Golden Fighter and the Great Saiyaman is, but, after her humiliating defeat in the hands of the new transfer student that is Lime, she began doubting herself. She doubted herself and her strength and so, for the first time in her life after her mother had died, she found herself crying.

"Hey, are you okay?" Gohan asked kindly.

She was depressed, yes. But she wasn't deep enough in her sorrow to let anyone see her like this.

Quickly wiping away her tears, she realized that the worst person possible found her crying in the nurse's office.

"G-gohan! What are you doing here?" she said in surprise.

"Well, I broke my nose and-"

"It sure doesn't look broken to me," she said, glaring at him.

Not letting himself be caught in Videl's pace, Gohan insisted, "Isn't it? Well, lucky me. So why were you crying just now?"

"Sh-shut up! I wasn't crying or anything like that," Videl denied strongly, her face turning red with both anger and embarrassment.

She was expecting Gohan to press the matter and was getting ready to come up with more lies to cover up the situation when Gohan handed her a handkerchief.

"Here. If you don't want to talk about it, then that's fine. But if you need someone to talk to, I'll always be here for you."

Gohan smiled and left while Videl sat on the infirmary's bed in a daze.

She knew that most men would take advantage of her and even blackmail her in that situation seeing that she had just displayed a weak side of herself, but Gohan's actions didn't add up.

She felt her face go hot and her heart started beating abnormally faster. She didn't understand what was going on with her, but she knew that she had to come up with a way to thank Gohan for his consideration some day.

* * *

_End of Chapter Nine_

_To be continued..._


	10. Chapter Ten: Valentine's Day

**Chapter Ten: Valentine's Day**

Chapter Notes:

Unlike in Western Countries where the men give chocolates and roses to women as a sign of affection, in Japan, the women usually give chocolates to the men during Valentine's Day.

There are two types of chocolates given.

If you are a lover or a prospective lover, the women normally give you _honmei_ chocolates.

If you are just a friend, the women give you _giri-choco_.

**A/N: **-

* * *

Videl Satan was sitting once again in front of her computer.

She once again tried to search for information about Son Gohan. However, unlike the previous time, this one was for a completely different purpose.

Keying in numerous searches, she found herself more frustrated than the last time.

"Why am I even bothering to do this?" she asked herself aloud in anger. "I mean, it's not as if I really owe him anything."

She pushed her chair back and looked at a spot on her bed. There, a neatly folded blue handkerchief lay in place.

She felt her heart race and her face flush red as she remembered the event the other day. At first, she was confused at her emotions, but later on dismissed it as nothing more than embarrassment. In time, she will discover how wrong she was, but that was a story for a different time.

For now, Videl Satan felt like punching her computer at its repeated failure to provide her with relevant results, but she thought better not to after she concluded that it wasn't the computer that was at fault.

She remembered Gohan's kind smile and his mysterious background and she found herself throwing her arms up in the air and wondering, "_Just who are you really, Son Gohan?"_

* * *

Tuesday morning came and Gohan found himself waking up early for once so he didn't have to face the wrath of the frying pan.

As he got down for an early breakfast, he found Erasa who was just about to leave.

"Whoa there!" he exclaimed in surprise. "You're up early."

Erasa just giggled and said, "Silly Gohan. Of course, I am. I need to make it in time for school, remember? What about you? How come you're always just five to ten minutes late for school? Shouldn't you be later than that? That's unfair, Gohan. I really need my beauty sleep you know?"

Gohan just laughed and scratched the back of his head like he usually did when he was in a sticky situation.

"Ahahahaha, well, you know. I have one of Bulma's jet copters…"

"Nonesense, Gohan. Bulma gave me her latest prototype, remember?"

Gohan knew that he was caught but fortunately, though Erasa was the school's gossip and was always up-to-date with the school's latest scoops, she also decided to just accept Gohan for who he was and so she asked him no further.

"Oh well. I won't ask. See you later then, cutie."

She pecked him on the cheek and ran outside while waving goodbye to him.

Gohan just thought that Erasa was settling in nicely with his family, to the point that she would kiss him on the cheek just like his mother did when she was in a good mood and was saying goodbye to him.

Poor Erasa. How thick could Gohan get?

On the other hand, his younger brother wasn't as clueless.

As Gohan stood in the doorway with these thoughts, Goten - who had recently learned to transform into a Super Saiyan much to Chichi's chagrin - ran into the kitchen yelling, "Mummy, older brother and the Super Saiyan elder sister were kissy kissy at the doorway!"

* * *

Videl Satan was early to school for once.

She decided that the police can handle crime fighting in Satan City for that day and called to inform them of that to let them actually do their job.

As soon as she arrived in school, she saw an unfamiliar, sleek black jet copter about to land.

It was approaching the school rooftop with a very fast speed that she estimated was twice her own jet copter's.

Intrigued, she made a point to eye the back of the jet copter and find out what model number it was.

"_If I had a jet copter that fast, getting to crime scenes and chasing the Buckethead would be much easier,"_ she thought to herself.

However, she found nothing of the sort.

"_Strange. I've heard of people removing plate numbers because of stolen machines, but this is the first time I've seen a jet copter without a model number. Could it be a prototype?"_

Suspecting that something fishy was going on, she decided to hover her jet copter over the rooftop for a few more minutes instead of landing so that she could see who piloted the strange vehicle.

Who came out totally surprised her.

"_Erasa?!"_

* * *

"Hi, girl. Looks like you're early today," Erasa remarked, seeing her friend.

As usual, Videl wore a scowl on her face but she always had and therefore, Erasa thought nothing of it until Videl spoke.

"Yeah. And, on my way to school, I saw something interesting."

Erasa noticed the subtle hint of implication in her best friend's voice and started to become nervous.

"Oh, what was it?" she asked trying to keep her voice as calm as she could.

Had Videl perhaps found out that she had been disowned and kicked out of her house? Did she find out that she was now living with Son Gohan? As these thoughts ran wild in Erasa's head, Videl continued.

"Yeah… something very _interesting,_" she said the word slowly for emphasis.

"Oh come on! Spit it out already, Videl! You know I love hearing gossip," Erasa cried out with fake curiosity and enthusiasm.

Truth be told, Erasa had, by now, confirmed that the person Videl was talking about was none other than herself and she was nervous about it - so much that her heart rate started to pick up and her hands became clammy.

Videl just continued looking at her suspiciously before she said, "It's funny how I was coming to school, I saw a jet copter without a model number fly past me with twice the speed of my jet copter. It really is a wonder because my jet copter's the latest and the fastest one out in the market. And guess what? Who was the pilot of that jet copter?"

Erasa, instead of feeling cornered, actually felt relieved.

It seems that Videl hadn't found out about her circumstances yet and so, she lied easily, "Well, you know my dad's a womanizer, don't you? Well, apparently, he slept with one of the female employees in Capsule Corp. and after a while, he managed to get her to sell a prototype to him so he could give it to me as an apology gift."

Videl thought that something didn't add up.

Sure, what Erasa said made sense since she knew Rubber Eraser fairly well after meeting him several times whenever she visited Erasa's home. She knew that Erasa and him weren't on the best of terms but the most that she knew that he had done was cut down Erasa's pocket money or ground her. She didn't know that he had also hit her or that he would go to the extent of disowning his own daughter.

Still, she felt that something wasn't right with what her best friend said. However, she decided to let it go for now and made a mental note to herself to pursue the matter later on.

For now, there was a more pressing issue at hand.

"Well, alright…" she said hesitantly before changing the topic. "Hey, I have a question."

Knowing that she somehow got herself off the hook, Erasa was more than happy to reply.

"Shoot."

"Hm, well... assuming that a guy found out about a side of you that you have never shown to the public - and I mean assuming -" she added for emphasis. "And, instead of pursuing more about the matter, he just considers your situation and leaves after telling you 'I'll be here for you if you need me' what would you do?"

"Ooh, it seems that some guy has finally melted the Ice Queen Videl's heart," Erasa teased.

She was feeling elated. Not only had Videl let her off the hook, she was also showing signs of being interested in a guy.

Erasa thought that since she had been living with Gohan, she would know if something happened between him and Videl since he always told his mother about goings-on in school and so, she assumed that her best friend was referring to another guy. Her heart jumped for joy at the thought of her getting a chance to date Gohan without having to worry about her best friend's feelings.

"I SAID 'ASSUMING'!" Videl half shouted in denial at the notion.

The two or three early-birds sitting in the classroom all turned their heads to look at the both of them which caused Videl to blush in embarrassment.

"_Why am I blushing?"_ Videl questioned herself. "_I've been through worse situations and I've never batted an eyelid, but a simple matter like this making me blush. This is so not like me."_

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Videl pressed on arrogantly, "Well, so what's your advice?"

Erasa didn't miss the action and smiled coyly. Her best friend must be head over heels in love with a guy and that was good for her because it would give her a chance to be with Gohan.

"Well, that means that the guy probably likes you," she told Videl, hastily jumping to a conclusion. "You know what, girl? You should totally go out with that guy. It's the perfect opportunity! It's Valentines Day on Thursday - that's two days from now - and you should really consider giving that guy some chocolates."

"I-do-not-like-a-guy!" Videl hissed.

Erasa just shrugged her shoulders. She knew that she could never make Videl admit to anything regarding boys and love, so she simply said, "Whatever you say, Videl. But think about it. I'm sure whoever this is would be extremely happy to receive chocolates from the daughter of Mr. Satan."

While Videl strongly denied the notion of her liking Gohan, her rational side did consider the suggestion of giving Gohan chocolates on Valentines Day. She thought that it would be a good way to say 'thank-you-for-offering-a-crying-shoulder-not-that-I-took-you-up-on-the-offer-but-thanks-for-the-thought-anyway'.

Of course, it didn't have to be on Valentines Day, but she didn't feel comfortable at the thought of thanking someone who just saw a weak side of her so she thought that giving Gohan chocolates on Valentine's Day and passing it off as _giri-choco_ would be the best way to thank him and not feel embarrassed at the same time.

It was like killing two birds with one stone!

In fact, she had not thanked anyone in a long time since she was usually the one being thanked for saving so many people, therefore, she felt awkward even thinking about it.

But, Videl Satan didn't like owing anything to anyone. She knew that her conscience would nag at her if she didn't thank Gohan for offering a consoling shoulder when she needed it (not that she accepted it, but that wasn't the point). Besides, she thought that the sooner she thanked Gohan, the sooner she would be even with him and the sooner she wouldn't feel bad whenever she snooped around finding information about his private life.

And so, she decided to make a quick visit to a chocolate store immediately after school.

* * *

Lao Lime got changed to a frilly, pink uniform.

It was her first day at the job and she seriously thanked her luck that she was able to find a replacement after she had been fired unfairly from her previous one. She was also glad that she got higher wages here compared to her last workplace.

However, the higher wage came with a price.

She now had to wear (what she considered) a ridiculous uniform and moreover, she had to put a permanent smile on her face and be subservient to the customers - most of which were couples.

It was bad for her because she had a natural, tomboyish nature so carrying herself in this manner took her a great deal of effort. Furthermore, she could feel men - much to their lover's chagrin - ogling at her whenever she passed by to serve them. This was worse than when she worked at the 'Mandarin Duck' because at least there, the Chinese uniform that she wore covered her thighs all the way down to her knees. Here, however, not only was the uniform frilly and pink, the skirt that came with it rode up to her mid-thighs as well.

But, such was life, she told herself as she sighed and closed the door to her locker.

Bracing herself, she pulled her on cheeks to relax its muscles and said in a voice only audible for her to hear, "Alright, Lime. You've fought scary bears before. This is nothing!"

With that, she opened the door and put on her best smile.

"Welcome to Lover's Delight! How may I help you?"

"LIME?!" came a surprised reply.

Today was her first day and she was on counter duty.

She didn't expect that the first customer that she would serve would be…

"VIDEL!" she exclaimed in surprise.

Beside her, the girl running the other counter gave her a scowl.

Lime was a trainee and the girl expected her to uphold the conduct and mannerisms of the employees in the 'Lover's Delight'.

Videl Satan, too, was surprised.

After her humiliating defeat from Lime yesterday, she promoted Lime's status to 'arch-nemesis' and she vowed to have nothing to do with the girl until she was ready to challenge her for a rematch. However, fate didn't seem to work that way and now she found herself face to face with the girl that trampled on her pride.

She stifled a laughter when she realized what type of clothes Lime was wearing, before she placed her order.

"I'd like to grab the high quality chocolate from Red Star City please," she said casually.

Lime carried herself civilly and professionally despite her dislike for the raven-haired girl.

"Right. That's 1,000 zenny please."

Now, 1,000 zenny was a lot of money. An average part-time worker's wage was 15 to 20 zenny while a professional worker, depending on their job, could earn income ranging from 25-60 zenny per hour.

It was not a small amount to scoff at especially when it was spent for chocolates.

The amount may be huge for most people - Lime included - but it wasn't a problem for Videl.

She and her father had a lot of money to spend so she simply pulled out a black card and asked to pay via debit.

In doing this, Videl unknowingly fueled Lime's hatred towards the Satan family. To Lime, the Satan family's fame and wealth wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the golden haired boy that she had met seven years ago. However, she didn't want to lose her job again and so she kept these feelings within herself and handed over a small package that contained the prized chocolate.

As she did so, Lime couldn't help but wonder.

"_High quality chocolate from Red Star City. She purposely didn't say the name of the product, but I wonder, who will she give that 'Confession of Love' chocolates to?"_

She knew the fact that Videl Satan fought crime in Satan City and that she projected an image of a no-nonsense sort of person. Therefore, it was an entertaining mystery for her to find out that _the_ Videl Satan had walked in to a lover's cafe and brought the most expensive item on the menu.

As Videl left, Lime thought to herself, "_Even the cool Ms. Satan is getting chocolates for her lover. I probably should get something for Gohan as well."_

She didn't have evidence that Gohan was the golden haired fighter that saved her village from seven years ago, but she did have a theory that he was the same person. Regardless, she felt the same amount of attraction for the dark haired teen as she did to the Golden Fighter and she knew that she had a small crush him and so, she made a plan to give Gohan chocolates for Valentine's Day.

* * *

Wednesday came by in a blur and, on Thursday, Gohan found that the metal from which his school locker was made of had a massive, bulging dent.

It wasn't a surprise seeing that it was Valentine's on that day and so, as soon as he unlocked and opened his locker, he found an enormous amount of chocolates and love letters cascading down onto him.

"What the-?" he gasped aloud in shock.

All around him, people stared as he picked up every single one of the items.

For the males, they stared in jealousy. They had expected to receive at least one or two _giri-chocos_ from the girl that they liked but were disappointed when they found none. Still, they held on to the hope that the girl would hand the chocolate to them personally until they saw the amount of chocolates and letters that Gohan received.

"_That's got to be the whole female population in school giving him honmeis!"_ they all thought. "_That bastard's hogging all the women to himself!"_

At that point in time, there was an unspoken understanding of hatred towards Gohan among the males and, in time, they will form groups that would try to make Gohan's school life miserable.

For now though, the females were observing him closely and hoping that he would respond to their proposals of asking him out on a date.

Unfortunately for them, Gohan had only read about the concept of Valentine's Day on books and so, he didn't exactly know what all the fuss was about. Knowing his own appetite, however, he was glad that he had received so many chocolates and he wondered if there was enough to share with Goten as well.

Stuffing everything away into his school bag, he made his way to class just in time for the morning bell.

* * *

There was a commotion in the cafeteria during lunch.

People crowded around and the boys would stand on their tiptoes just to see past their mates.

"What's going on? What's going on?" they asked each other.

In the middle of the circle, Videl Satan stood in front of Son Gohan with her usual scowl.

"Gohan, I need to talk to you," she said in a serious tone.

Everyone around them was wondering if the Videl Satan was going to confess to someone for the first time in her life.

Gohan, on the other hand, didn't even consider the thought.

In his mind, he was silently screaming, "_Oh great. Not again. Not another interrogation."_

"It's about yesterday," Videl continued.

"_Ah, oh no! She must have found out that I was the Great Saiyaman when I transformed at the rooftop!"_

Before Videl could continue, however, Gohan ran away and tried to escape at the fastest normal human speed he could manage, but Videl pursued him earnestly with her eyebrows furrowed and a glare on her face which, to Gohan, seemed very much like his mother thus making him very nervous indeed.

To him, it felt like it was the time when his mother chased him around and scolded him for training with Piccolo instead of concentrating on his studies.

"Hey, wait!" Videl commanded.

However, Gohan did not stop and just continued running and, as Videl started to run out of breath, she wondered how Gohan could maintain running at that speed without even breaking a sweat.

"Gohan!" she shouted as she continued to run after him through the hallways, attracting students' attention. "Why are you running away from me?!"

"Why are you chasing me in the first place?" Gohan shouted back as he ran.

"I… just… want… to… give… you… something!" she huffed.

"Say what?"

"I said, 'I wanted to give you something'!"

Gohan stopped running. There was no gradual deceleration. It was just an instantaneous stop which caused Videl to collide with his chest hard as he turned around to face her.

"Ow!" exclaimed Videl. "_What the heck? His body is hard as steel! Maybe even harder!"_

"Oh… uh… sorry. You said you wanted to give me something?"

Videl paused to catch her breath for a while before she nodded her head.

She was still rather embarrassed about the ordeal of thanking him, but she had to get it done and over with so she reached into her pockets and pulled out the small package containing the expensive chocolates.

"What's this? Is it for me?" Gohan asked dumbly.

"No, it's for the president of Satan City, of course it's for you!"

Gohan scratched his cheek and said, "Gee, thanks. I don't know why, but I seem to be getting a lot of chocolates today."

Videl's eye twitched. He was supposed to accept it gratefully! This was _the _Videl Satan giving him a thank you gift, you know?

"Hmph! That's just a th-thank you for yesterday…"

Murmurs started as the people in the vicinity recognized the packaging.

"…most expensive chocolates…"

"Aren't those 'Confession of Love' chocolates? I've read about them in magazines and saw them on TV..."

"No way! Videl Satan likes the geeky Son Gohan?"

Different people had different reactions.

On one side, the females were annoyed since they thought that their chances with our naive hero had been reduced to close to nil once they found out that Videl Satan was their competition.

On the other side, the male population's envy grew and some of them could even be heard saying, "Not only our crushes and girlfriends, he's also playing around with Videl Satan!"

This would later result in the males forming groups to try and bully the young half-Saiyan, which, was not really a problem for Gohan, but it would give him a lot of hassle especially since he was already trying very hard hide his strength to blend in and not stand out.

Videl Satan heard the words 'Confession of Love' and she froze. Then she mentally scolded herself.

_"How stupid! Why didn't I check the chocolate description before I brought them?"_

"Gohan, can I see those chocolates for a second?" she demanded.

Looking at the glare on Videl's face, Gohan feared that she wouldn't return the chocolates back and so he shielded the chocolates with his body and said, "No way. You gave these chocolates to me. These are mine now."

He seriously wanted to eat the chocolates. His Saiyan hearing had only heard 'most expensive chocolates' when the crowd started talking among themselves and he immediately thought that he wanted to taste what expensive chocolates were like therefore he ignored the rest of the murmurs.

"Just. Give. Them. To. Me!" Videl said as she tried reach out for the chocolates.

There was a small scuffle which Gohan won in trying to prevent Videl from taking the chocolates back.

Meanwhile, Erasa and Lime had finally reached their location after pushing through the crowd.

Erasa, after seeing that Videl had given Gohan chocolates for Valentine's was confused with her emotions since it was her who gave the advice to Videl two days ago.

Lime, on the other hand, felt like someone had stabbed her heart.

It was painful watching the scene for her.

She was the one who served Videl when she brought the chocolates and therefore she knew how expensive the chocolates were. She, on the other hand, was poor and didn't have enough money so she had to carefully consider her budget and make cheap chocolates from scratch. It was the best that she could do and she had poured her heart into it.

She should have been proud that hers was homemade, unlike Videl's and the other girl's for that matter, but instead, she felt inferior. She felt that she couldn't compete with Videl for her love for Gohan.

As she watched the scene with a painful feeling in her chest, she unconsciously put her hand in her pocket and clutched the bag of chocolates that she had painstakingly made.

She decided not to give them to Gohan.

* * *

_End of Chapter Ten_

_To be continued..._


	11. Chapter Eleven: Here comes trouble!

**Chapter Eleven: Here comes trouble!**

Chapter Notes:

**A/N: **-

* * *

The old man was restocking his shop's shelves.

He was lifting heavy wooden crates that, long ago, was nothing for him. However, this time, he was only managing through putting in sheer effort.

He wheezed and paused to catch his breath before he coughed blood.

It had been happening a lot lately.

He was often out of breath and was coughing blood. Still, he told himself that he couldn't die now. He still had a duty to make sure that he see his granddaughter off to a good future before he leaves the world.

He wiped his mouth and hands free of his blood with a clean handkerchief and proceeded to continue heaving the wooden crates, but he heard a loud crack before he felt a sharp pain on his hip.

He didn't even manage to hold his hip. In a split of a second, he was falling, falling… and blacking out.

He hit the ground with a thud.

Mr. Lao, after fighting his old age, had fallen at last.

* * *

The smell of tobacco was strong in the room.

A short man could be seen sitting on a massive chair puffing a cigar on one hand and holding a glass of bourbon in the other.

He wasn't in the least bit pleased.

"So the man finally croaked?" he enquired.

"No, sir. He's still alive. Just hospitalized - for a hip fracture," Sherry, the dark haired girl from before, replied.

Mr. Borbonne slammed his fist on the table.

"Dammit, Sherry! I pay you a fortune every time you give him the poison and now you tell me that he's hospitalized for a hip fracture?" he steamed. "Do you know that the doctors might discover traces of poison in his body when they try to cure him? They will give him antidotes! I'm sure of it."

He paused and calmed himself down.

It wasn't really the girl's fault that the old man was straining himself so he came to a rational conclusion.

"Alright. I've decided. I have a new assignment for you," he said. "Which hospital did you say the old man got hospitalized in?"

"I'm not sure, sir. But the closest one from Chazke Village is at Satan City."

"Good. I want you to check the records and find out if he's there. Then," he puffed a ring of smoke smugly. "Then, burn it down to the ground."

Sherry nodded her acknowledgment.

She was young - only about in her her late teens - but that didn't stop her from doing these sorts of jobs. She wanted money and she would do anything for it.

"If the price is right," she hinted.

Mr. Borbonne grunted unhappily.

"Fine. But I expect you to do the job properly this time."

He would stop at nothing to get back at the girl that ruined his scheme seven years ago.

* * *

It was the end of February and about fifteen days after Videl gave Gohan the 'Confession of Love' chocolates.

The sun was blazing hot though it was technically the last day before the start of Autumn.

The incident of Videl's supposed confession to (in the girls' opinion) the cute nerd boy was still fresh in the student's minds and Gohan found himself being slapped in the back by most of his male classmates.

Of course, it wasn't a friendly slap. It was a slap meant to hurt him. The males would try and smack his back with all the force that they could muster, but they hurt their hands instead. They have not yet started forming groups but in time, they will and the bullying would only escalate.

For now, Videl had avoided talking to Gohan as she let the disaster that she caused pass.

In a way, it was beneficial for both parties because Gohan found himself some breathing space after her intense grilling and investigations.

However, the peace would not last long.

Knowing this, Dende threw his cane on the immaculate floor tiles at Kami's Lookout with a sigh of resignation and said, "Popo, if Gohan comes here, tell him I went on a vacation."

Mr. Popo just opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water with a drop of sweat trickling down his temple.

"But… Your Holiness-"

"Actually, I might as well take a real vacation. Take care of stuff here. I'm off to the Bahamas."

And with that, Dende left for a day of rest and relaxation and left poor Mr. Popo to manage the world while he was away, during which things didn't go well for our teenage hero.

* * *

Gohan landed hurriedly at the school's rooftop.

Erasa had left early as usual after she pecked him goodbye on the cheek. She was initially confused at Videl's 'confession' to Gohan but when her best friend did her best to explain the situation to her, she understood and she decided to continue dedicating herself to Gohan.

She had resolved to do so, which is ironical because this was the reason why she never got along well with her mother.

She understood that this was hypocritical of her, therefore, she resolved that - if she had the chance - she would apologize to her mother. However, she has yet to forgive her father for the thousand-and-one things that he had done wrong to her and her mother.

Gohan didn't know all this, of course. All he knew was that he woke up late after finishing the last bar of chocolate that he got from the girls during Valentine's Day.

He could have finished it all in one sitting, however, his mother made him hand everything over to her so that she could dispense it at three chocolates a day for each both Gohan and Goten and, interestingly, Erasa.

"But mum!" both of the half-Saiyans tried to argue.

However, Chichi wouldn't have any of it and reasoned that it's bad for their teeth. Though, really, she only wanted to have better control of them while the chocolates lasted.

"Wake up early and on time!" she would nag before threatening, "Do it or else I'll throw all the chocolates away."

Of course, this succeeded until the chocolates ran out and so, Gohan found himself waking up late again once the incentive had disappeared and was one again faced with the wrath of the frying pan after a fifteen day break from it.

He was late and so he rushed out of the house, landed at the school's rooftop and changed back to his normal school clothes without thinking about checking if there were people there. He was so used to being alone at the rooftop in the mornings that he forgot to check but he was lucky that day because Videl was avoiding him.

However, he noticed a certain red-haired girl leaning against the wall at the rooftop when he became aware of his surroundings.

"Hiya, Gohan!" the girl cheerfully greeted.

The girl's name was Angela, though, Gohan forgot that at that moment in time.

All he knew was that he recognized the girl's face somewhere and he was nervous because he was unsure if whether or not the girl saw him transform.

"Uh… hi there, um… uh… Andrea?"

"It's Angela!" the girl giggled. "Oh you. How could you forget? I see you every Wednesday during music class. We even have the project due today, remember?"

"Uh… right," Gohan replied back nervously. "_Could she have seen me transform into my Saiyaman costume?"_

"Anyway, Anthea-"

"Angela!"

"Yes, Angela. I have to go now. The bell has rung. We're late for class. See you!" Gohan hurriedly said as he rushed down the stairs.

As he did so, he was mentally kicking himself.

"_Stupid, stupid, stupid!"_

* * *

As Gohan joined class (late as usual), his homeroom teacher, Ms. Mademoiselle was already halfway through done with her announcements.

"Mr. Son! Late again az usual, but of course, I deed giff you permizion," she self-justified. "Very vell, sit down."

As Gohan went to his seat, he was greeted as usual by Erasa.

"Hey, there cutie. Guess your girlfriend's earlier than you today," she teased.

Videl shot her best friend a scowl but didn't deny anything because she knew that it would be futile.

Gohan denied the notion strongly though - as he normally did - from which Videl felt a painful stab in her heart (though she didn't know why).

"Keep quiet, Mr. Son! Alvays and every time, you disrupt my class. Zis is ze last warning, Mr. Son, or I vill call your parents," Ms. Mademoiselle threatened.

Of course, the thought of his mother being informed of his misbehavior scared our young hero and so, he shut up and listened to the rest of the announcements.

"Now, as I was saying, zis might be a bit sudden, but ve have just received a call from Capsule Corporation. Of course, you all know zat Capsule Corporation iz ze company responsible for ze technology ve haff today. Vithout ze Capsule Corporation, ve might still be living in a vorld vithout electricity, cars, jet copters, airplanes, and of course, zeir best invention, the DynoCaps.

"Now _ze_ Capsule Corporation Headquarters itself gave us a call zis morning for a surprise three day, two night field trip! Isn't zat exciting?! Az far az I know, ve are ze first school zat's been invited for a field trip!

"Ze catch is, ze field trip iz tomorrow and zey requested zat ve make ze students do a report on zeir visit to Capsule Corporation and make it part of ze student's final grades - ten percent of your final grades, in fact. Of course, ve didn't vant to pass up on ze opportunity and readily agreed so you vill haff to convince your parents to sign zis form by tonight."

Both Gohan and Erasa groaned to themselves.

Gohan was certain that more of his secrets would be revealed if they went to a _three day, two night_ field trip to Capsule Corporation. What was Bulma thinking?! Moreover, he was sure that his mother would definitely sign the form since, though she was the one who told him to keep his strength hidden, it was also true that she cared more about his education.

Erasa on the other hand groaned because she now had to worry about whether or not the school would accept Chichi's signature. She wanted to try however since she was proud to call Gohan's mother her own, now that she had spent quite some time with the Son Family but, just in case, she thought about photocopying the form and forging either her mother's or father's signature.

* * *

During music class, Gohan had to sing along with Erasa and Angela who played the violin and the piano respectively.

His singing was so bad that Mr. Hovenbeet had to cover his ears and stop him.

It was a miracle that none of the windows broke!

Mr. Hovenbeet gave him a pass, however, because he unknowingly threatened to bust the poor man's already partially deaf eardrums with more of his singing in the case that he failed and redid the project.

After their performance, for the rest of the class, Gohan grew increasingly nervous at Angela's constant stares - something which Erasa noticed.

"What is her problem?" whispered a curious-for-gossip Erasa.

"Actually, I don't know," Gohan lied as he scratched the back of his head so similarly to his father.

Knowing that Gohan was lying, Erasa pressed the matter.

"Come on, Gohan. I know you're lying. I've been livi-"

Gohan panicked and covered Erasa's mouth his the palm of his hand.

"Yikes! Shhhh! Don't say that aloud in public."

Of course, Erasa knew that and she wasn't really going to complete the sentence. It was a partial threat to make Gohan tell her what was really going on.

The gesture didn't escape Mr. Hovenbeet's notice and he shouted from across the room.

"Mr. Son, I may be deaf but I'm not blind. Come over here."

When Gohan walked over, he handed Gohan two empty buckets of water.

"Fill these two buckets with water and come back here. Don't dilly dally now, young man!"

Gohan proceeded to fill the two buckets with water and wondered what was going on.

"Right, young man. You do know that there are other people doing their performances, do you not?" he didn't wait for an answer and continued. "Just because you've already passed doesn't mean you should disrupt the class and let other students who haven't been graded yet, suffer.

"Now, I want you to go outside to the hallway, carry these buckets, and think about your actions. Don't put them down. It's a punishment… oh yes… can you feel the burn yet? Don't worry, you will feel it soon enough."

Gohan stood outside the hallway carrying the two buckets wondering what Mr. Hovenbeet meant by 'feel the burn'.

The punishment that the music teacher assigned to him wasn't even a punishment.

Meanwhile, Angela was day dreaming about our young hero during class.

Gohan had already been popular with girls from before and not even Videl's 'confession' dissuaded them from trying. Among those girls was Angela, and she had seen something which she felt that she could use to make Gohan hers.

As she was day dreaming about going on a date with Gohan, she was unconsciously drawing the half-Saiyan's face on her notebook. She had decorated it with his name and enclosed the letters with hearts and stuff.

Mr. Hovenbeet cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Well, it looks like Mr. Son isn't the only one who's causing trouble in my class. So," he paused. "What do we have here, Miss Angela?"

He made a move to see what Angela was doing, but the red-haired girl covered her notebook with her body and started faking a cry.

"I'm sorry, sir! Uwah! I'm rea-*sniff*-really sohuhuhurryyyy."

Dumbfounded, the poor teacher could only stare and wonder if he had done too much to the teen.

"Uh… well… whatever, go outside and reflect on your actions and never do it again," he said.

Angela perked up immediately and cheerfully replied, "Okay, Professor," before she joined Gohan outside in the hallways.

When she went outside, he found Gohan, who was staring at the wall in front of him with a bored look, carrying the two buckets of water effortlessly. However, she didn't notice the latter part as she was only more than happy to join him.

"Hiya, Gohan," she said flirtatiously.

"_Oh crap! It's the girl from this morning!" _Gohan thought.

"Oh, uh… hi there, Angelina-"

"It's Angela!" the red-haired girl pouted.

"Oh yes… Angela. So, what's up?" Gohan laughed nervously.

"Oh nothing, just been sent out of class."

"Ahaha, that's great! I mean, that's bad… I mean… whatever."

There was a short silence where Angela just stared at the walls for a few seconds before she went to the point.

"Actually, Gohan, I saw something _very_ interesting."

"Oh? Uh, what's that?" Gohan asked, though he already knew and feared the answer.

"Oh… _something._ You know, don't you, Gohan?" Angela said in a ominous yet sweet manner.

"I… d-don't know what you're talking about, haha…"

"Don't lie, Gohan. You know that I know that you know what I know. So…" she paused and waited.

Confused at Angela's statement, Gohan blurted out a, "Huh? So?"

"Yeah, so… go out on a date with me!" Angela exclaimed and demanded.

Still confused, Gohan asked, "Huh? Go out on a date? I can't do that!"

"_And what's a date anyway?" _he thought to himself. Whatever the word meant, he was sure that it didn't mean a good one.

"Oh, come on, Gohan. I know that you and Videl are together, but if you don't go out on a date with me, I'll tell everyone your secret."

"Th-that's crazy! Please, don't tell everyone. I beg you."

Gohan was pressured to the point that he didn't even deny being together with Videl.

Angela pretended not to notice his distress and said slyly, "Hm, I don' know Gohan. It seems like a pretty big secret to me."

"Please, I'll do anything!" Gohan begged.

"Anything?"

"Anything!"

"Hm, well alright then. So go out on a date with me after the field trip."

Gohan sighed and resigned himself to reluctantly agreeing, "Oh, alright then," though he didn't really know what a date was. He was going to look up the word later in the dictionary though he doubted that it would really change anything.

* * *

The lovely smell of Chinese food wafted around the Son Residence.

Erasa was dicing the meat like a pro.

She had only been staying with the Son Family for about half a month but she had already learned the basics of cooking from Chichi.

After she and Chichi finished cooking, they called out to the boys.

During dinner, Gohan seemed down, so Chichi asked him if anything was up and he replied, "Well, there's this girl in my music class. Her name's Angela and she found out that I'm the Great Saiyaman."

Before Chichi could reply, Erasa cut in and exclaimed in surprise, "Wait, what? YOU MEAN YOU'RE THE GREAT SAIYAMAN?!"

Uh oh, it seems that Gohan had gotten so comfortable with having Erasa around the house that he had forgotten that she didn't know all of his secrets yet. However, he knew that she would find out eventually and besides, he found a good friend in the blonde girl and so he didn't bother lying this time.

"Well, yeah," he said, scratching his cheek.

He then pressed the red button on his wristwatch calmly to prove it.

"See?"

Erasa just stared open mouthed at Gohan.

She knew that he was hiding something, but this was too much. It was like someone dropped an atomic bomb on her!

"I don't believe it!" she exclaimed. "How's it possible for you to lift up those airplanes and block bullets?"

There were too many questions to ask but Chichi calmed the girl down and said, "Now, dear. I know it's a bit sudden but I don't think you're ready to find out about the reasons yet."

"_There was more?"_ Erasa thought.

Her brain exploded with more questions, so much that she felt a slight pang of dizziness, but she didn't press the matter. She respected the Son Family's privacy and she respected Chichi's decision.

"Well, alright then. I guess that explains why you're only a few minutes late to school even though you're always up late."

"Gohan, you're always late for school?" growled Chichi. "This is the first time I'm hearing of this."

Erasa giggled as the scene played out where Chichi scolded her son.

Little Goten held out his bowl to her and asked her politely, "May I have some more rice please?"

"Sure," she replied back delightedly.

If anything, Gohan and Goten were both raised right. They were very polite compared to the other men that she'd met.

As she served Goten more rice, she remembered something.

"Oh, that's right. Gohan, have you gotten your form signed yet?"

"Uh, no. I was kind of hoping to discuss the matter with my mother later."

"What form is this, Gohan?" Chichi enquired.

Erasa took it upon herself to explain.

"Well, you see, today there was an announcement that we're having a field trip to Capsule Corporation tomorrow. We're supposed to get our parents to sign these forms to show that they're allowing us to come."

"Urgh! What is that blue-haired woman thinking?! She knows that you and Gohan go to that school. I told her before; I don't want to attract any attention to our family!" Chichi complained.

"Exactly, mum! That's why I wanted to talk to you to ask you to get me an exemption."

"You bet I will!"

"Uh, but Gohan, aren't you forgetting that we're supposed to do a report about the visit and that it will be worth ten percent of our final grades?"

"What? How dare you skip out that detail, young man? Don't you care for your education?"

It was amazing how quickly Chichi changed her mind!

"That settles it, you're going tomorrow, whether you like it or not!"

Then her tone turned softer, "Do you want me to sign your forms as well, Erasa dear?"

Erasa blushed slightly in embarrassment.

She didn't want to impose on Chichi but it sure felt nice how she's treating her like her own daughter. In a way, she felt more at home at the Son Residence and Chichi felt more like a mother to her than her biological one.

"Um… if you don't mind," she said shyly.

"Come now, don't be shy. Of course I don't mind," Chichi smiled. "You're part of the family now."

And with that, Chichi signed both Gohan's and Erasa's field trip forms before sending them both off to bed early so that they won't late for school and miss the bus for the field trip tomorrow.

* * *

_End of Chapter Eleven_

_To be continued..._


	12. Chapter Twelve: First Kiss

**Chapter Twelve: First Kiss**

Chapter Notes: -

**A/N: **-

* * *

Son Gohan was dreaming about the time when he defeated Cell.

He remembered the feeling of absolutely overpowering his opponent. It was exhilarating and, if he had the chance, no matter how much he thinks that he dislikes fighting, he wouldn't pass up the opportunity to fight someone strong again and protect the world.

Clad in a layer of yellow, sparking aura, he poked fun at the villain and wondered why they had such a hard time fighting him initially when he really was so weak. The truth was, it wasn't that Cell was weak. It was Gohan who had become too strong. Cell used every single gene that was implanted onto him to try and defeat the blonde warrior but to no avail.

However, the terror dubbed as "The Perfect Weapon" thought of a cunning plan.

Yes, it was so easy. Why didn't he think of it before?

If the Z-fighters were fighting so hard for Earth's sake, then why not hold it hostage?

So he used his trump card. Expanding himself up into a big balloon, Cell threatened to blow himself up into smithereens and take earth down along with him.

The plan worked!

It made Gohan stop in his tracks. The adrenaline and the Saiyan blood flowing in the young boy's veins may have clouded his reason and made him disregard the fact that he was fighting someone who was terrorising the world and only lust for the heat of the battle, but the threat had made him come back to his senses. He didn't want the world to end and his mother and the people he cared about to die in vain.

He tried making a move to stop Cell, but the green menace commanded him to stop.

"Muhahaha, you really think I'm kidding? Try it and watch the world and everyone you love disappear!"

Gohan grit his teeth, his power level once again surging despite already reaching Super Saiyan 2. He was angry at Cell and he was angry at himself. Why didn't he get rid of the villain while he could? He was stupid, stupid, stupid!

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see his father's smiling face.

Son Goku - saviour of the world for far too many times to count - was smiling calmly at his son and, when he spoke, his voice gave away no sign of fear or whatsoever despite the direness of the situation.

"Hey," he said with his normal zeal. "What are you so angry for, son? Seriously, the veins on your forehead look like they're about to explode!"

"D-dad…"

The young boy couldn't say anything else. He was confused. How could his father be so calm despite the situation? He had a bad feeling about this - and it wasn't about the impeding threat that is Cell.

"Relax, son. I have a plan."

Gohan watched in horror as his father used the skill that he learnt after defeating Freeza to teleport himself right beside Cell. He tried to shout and tell his father not to do it but, though his mouth opened and closed in speech, no words came out.

There was utter panic and confusion between all the Z-fighters and Cell and the next thing that they knew was Goku saying his last words and… he was gone. Son Goku once again died in trying to save the world.

"DAD!" screamed Gohan.

He woke up with sweat pouring out from every pore of his half-human, half-Saiyan body.

He recounted the dream he just had and his body shook. It didn't feel like a dream. Indeed, it wasn't. Instead, it was a memory. A memory that haunted Gohan every now and then whenever his mind wasn't too busy worrying about something else.

In a sense, since entering Orange Star High School, he had less of these dreams because there were always problems to worry about. Videl, for one. Lime, on the other. In fact, if he thought about it real hard, he couldn't remember ever having these dreams since he started school but for some reason, it was back again.

He felt deep regret at his own actions and hated himself again, so much that bitter bile rose from his throat and threatened to come out.

As he asked himself, "_Why now?"_, he found himself wandering down the hallway in search for a drink.

In doing so, around the corner, he collided with Erasa who had just finished taking her morning shower.

"Ow!" Erasa cried out.

Gohan's body was like - no - _harder_ than steel and so the blonde girl found that she had the beginnings of a small lump swelling on her forehead.

"Oh, sorry Erasa, I didn't- eek!" Gohan apologised before exclaiming in surprise.

"No, it's alright, Gohan. It was my fault for not paying attention. It's just that it's so rare to see you up this early in the morning so I never thought… um, what's up?" she asked curiously.

Gohan was blushing deep red and was covering his eyes - but at the same time, he had a small opening in between his fingers from which he was peeking curiously through.

Wondering what was going on, Erasa looked around and found her towel lying in a crumpled heap all around her. She too blushed before she covered herself up hastily.

"I didn't see anything, I swear!" Gohan quickly said.

Though she was embarrassed, Erasa felt a tad mischievous that day such that she could probably rival Trunks. Unwrapping the towel again, she said coyly, "Are you sure? Wow, it sure seems hot this morning… I wonder why that is?"

Getting a slight peek at her cream coloured and voluptuous breasts, Gohan felt his heart beat go wild before he ran away shouting, "I don't know. It must be the heater!"

As he left, Erasa chuckled to herself. "_He's so innocent," _she thought.

She then concluded that it was going to be a beautiful morning.

* * *

After a hearty breakfast, Chichi decided that it was time for Gohan and Erasa to leave the house.

"You're both going to be late if you keep dilly-dallying," she nagged. "Here's your packed lunch, Gohan," she said as she handed her son a capsule. "And this one's yours, dear," she handed Erasa a similar capsule.

"But mum! It's only 5:30am!" Gohan complained.

"Don't argue with me, young man. The early bird always get the worm!"

"I don't even think the worms are awake yet," Gohan mumbled.

There was a loud crash as little Goten raced towards the front door.

"Hey! You guys are going to Auntie Bulma's right? Right? Take me with you! I wanna play with Trunks!"

"Now Goten," Chichi started. "Your big brother and big sister are going to Bulma's for a school field trip so they can complete a report worth ten percent of their final grades. It's important that they do this well or they won't have good futures. I don't want you and Trunks to disrupt their studies so maybe next time, okay?"

Erasa felt her pride swell to be called Goten's big sister and be considered part of the Son Family, but at the same time, she had a nagging feeling that that was all she would ever be - a sister to Gohan. She didn't mind, though. But she still wanted to try and so, she resolved that once Videl realises her feelings for Gohan, she would declare her feelings for Gohan to Videl and fight her for him fair and square.

She would do no underhanded techniques, and if Gohan chose Videl, she would have no hard feelings and she would be satisfied being his 'sister'.

In any case, both Gohan and Erasa left on Erasa's jet copter seeing that they were both early so there was no real need to rush to school. When they were nearing Satan City's entrance, Erasa dropped Gohan off in the bush somewhere so that they won't arouse anyone's suspicions.

Erasa arrived first, followed about ten minutes later by Gohan who decided to take a stroll and think about the dream that he had that night. They were both surprised to see that they weren't the only ones that were early.

At the school gates, Lime was squatting down beside a large, old, red duffel bag.

She was excited that they were visiting the most influential company that was practically the pillar of human advancements. So excited in fact that she forgot to sleep that night and was early to school. It was obvious from the bags of her eyes, though, there are some that would say that eye-bags on some women look fairly attractive as some are attracted to freckles or braces.

She wouldn't have gotten any sleep for a totally different reason if she knew that her grandfather had been hospitalised, but for now, what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"Morning, Era. Morning, Gohan," she smiled as she greeted them. Her tone was cheerful, but it also showed a hint of tiredness.

"Hiya, Lime," Erasa replied with her usual bubbly self. "You look like you didn't sleep!"

Lime chuckled. "Heh heh. Well, of course! How can I, when I'm so excited to visit THE most influential company in the whole world! Probably even the whole Universe! Aren't you?"

She looked at Erasa and Gohan expectantly but noticed that they weren't nearly as excited as she was.

"Oh, yes, isn't it exciting?" Gohan said monotonously as if he was reading his reply of a script.

"Of course I am!" Erasa replied a little too enthusiastically.

Now, as they always say, 'It takes a liar to know one,' and Lime wasn't an exception. Having exposed a criminal named Mr. Borbonne and having lied through her teeth since she could practically speak, Lime knew that there was something fishy going on and that both Erasa and Gohan were lying about being excited in visiting Capsule Corporation. She couldn't quite place her finger about it.

However, she didn't want to ruin her good mood by thinking too much about it, and so, she let them off the hook.

"Aren't you packed a bit too much for this trip, Lime?" asked Erasa. "For a 3 day and 2 night trip, it sure seems like you packed your whole house in there."

Lime shook her head and replied, "Nah, I don't think so. It's more like, you two are packed a bit too light."

Looking around, both Erasa and Gohan realised that they were indeed packed too lightly compared to the other students who were currently present.

"Ah, no. We have our clothes in a capsule."

"'Our'?" Lime pressed, one of her eyebrows rising up.

She was very sharp with these things, especially when it concerned Gohan, but a part of her felt partially relieved that at least Gohan was not going out with Videl despite what she had seen during Valentine's Day. She felt that she stood a better chance with the half-Saiyan teen now.

"Well, whatever," she shrugged her shoulders and walked closer to Gohan. Locking her eyes with Erasa, she whispered in Gohan's ear, just audible enough for Erasa to hear, "I just want you to know that Videl and Erasa aren't the only girls around you."

Then she kissed him lightly on the lips, stealing his first kiss.

* * *

The rest of the bus ride was a quiet one.

Erasa, more annoyed than mad at Lime for discovering that the brown-haired girl was also her competition, sat at the back of the bus beside Gohan with her arms folded. She had just concluded that morning that she would fight for Gohan's love against Videl fair and square, but now that Lime had been added to the equation, she didn't quite know what to do.

She wanted to wait until her best friend realises her feelings for the naive teen before declaring herself as Videl's love rival officially, but she was sure that Lime would not wait until that time comes. Instead, Lime would probably make her move ahead of both her and Videl if she decided to wait.

What should she do? She asked herself throughout the trip. By the time they were halfway through the bus ride at the freeway, she had concluded to let Lime do what she wanted. After all, she had the advantage of seeing Gohan everyday at home and Videl, she knew - though the raven-haired girl didn't - saw Gohan every morning and afternoon (and sometimes even during class) when they fought crime as the Great Saiyaman. Knowing her best friend, she knew that Videl would one day discover that Gohan was the visored hero and so, both of them had an advantage over Lime in terms of the number of encounters they had with Gohan, therefore, she decided to let her be. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she felt that the brown-haired girl could be added to Sharpner and Videl as one of her best friends and, the more that she felt that way, the more she entertained the thought of _sharing_ Gohan in between the three of them.

Yes, why not? First, she would rub shoulders against the two, and if Gohan picked her, good - she would have him for herself exclusively. But if he chose either Videl or Lime, she would hold a discussion with both of them and suggest sharing our half-Saiyan hero between themselves. It was a perfect plan!

While Erasa pondered these things, Gohan's heart was still racing from being kissed by Lime. Still, he recounted that he had felt this way before when he kissed Erasa on the forehead while she was having a nightmare and, to some extent, he felt the same way around Videl when she wasn't breathing down his neck. He had never given much thought about it, but at this point in time, our teenage hero was beginning to take a step towards learning about issues such as love.

On the other hand, Videl Satan was sitting beside Erasa wondering why both Gohan and Erasa seemed so awkward that morning. Whatever it was, it was bugging her but she decided not to pursue the matter since she was smart enough to know that it would only lead to strong denials that would put the two's guards up in the future, and so, for the rest of the trip, Gohan, Videl and Erasa sat in silence while Lime slept soundly, knackered out from the lack of sleep, using her duffel bag as a pillow.

* * *

The bus hissed and came to a halt outside the front entrance of Capsule Corporation.

Students' eyes went wide with amazement when they save the size of the place. It was huge! As they went through the automatic doors, they entered the spacious reception area and were greeted by Ms. Secretary.

"Good morning, students from Orange Star High School - and of course, their teachers," she greeted the students along with Ms. Mademoiselle and Mr. Neggerschwarz who accompanied the students as their guardians and provide adult supervision. "Welcome to Capsule Corporation. My name is Secretary and I, on behalf of Capsule Corporation, would like to sincerely apologise for the short notice, but that was what I was ordered to do by my boss. In any case, this is the first time we've invited a school to visit so please relax for a moment and grab a seat - there's plenty - while I call my boss for further instructions," she said professionally, not noticing that Gohan and Erasa were among the crowd.

The teachers went and commanded the restless students to keep the noise that they were making to an absolute minimum and got them to form neat lines going by the student's registry number instead of making them take a seat, contrary to what Ms. Secretary asked them to do. The teachers were given strict instructions by the principal of Orange Star High School to impress Bulma Briefs and anyone who worked at Capsule Corporation. The school wanted to make a good impression so that they may perhaps be privileged enough to have another batch of students be invited again.

Little did the principal and the teachers know that the students were far from planning to behave.

Couples were planning on making night rendezvous and spend passionate nights together, while groups of friends were planning to hold mini parties in their rooms throughout the trip. In fact, some of Lime's, Erasa's and Videl's admirers were planning on overpowering the girls and make them do their bidding while another group wanted to humiliate Gohan in front of a celebrity.

Meanwhile, Ms. Secretary walked over to her desk and dialled the number that connected her directly to Bulma's office.

It was working hours and so Bulma sat in front of colossal piles of documents in front of her desk. She couldn't be bothered doing all of this paperwork and so she decided to leave everything to a robot that she designed to specifically process such things prior to this. She stood up from her chair and was about to leave to tinker with electronics and machinery and design new technology when the company phone rang.

It wasn't often that that specific phone rang and so, picking it up, she replied curiously, "Yes, what is it, Secretary?"

"Ma'am, the students from Orange Star High School are here," Secretary announced.

Bulma, though confused and not knowing what was happening, calmly replied back, "Alright. I'm coming down now."

She wanted to see for herself what was going on - and she was going to deal with it. She had every calm levelheadedness befitting of the largest company in the world's owner and so though she was surprised, confused and didn't know what was happening, she knew how to stay calm and assess the situation.

Taking her own sweet time, she walked leisurely and didn't rush. Being the richest and most influential woman in the world, she felt that she shouldn't rush for anybody unless it was an emergency situation where earth's existence itself was being threatened. In fact, unless it was a friend, Bluma felt that people should wait for _her _and not the other way around. And so, the students found themselves waiting for about twenty minutes at the reception area while Bulma took her time and went to get changed to a more let's-talk-business-like clothing.

Finally, she emerged from the elevators, gaining stares of admiration from the students and the teachers alike.

"Hi there," she said informally. She beckoned to Ms. Secretary to come over to her side and continued.

"I'm not really sure what's going on. I don't know why all of you are here," she started, getting her deflated looks from everyone except Gohan, who looked pretty triumphant right about now.

She folded her arms, a posture that made her feel comfortable and continued, "So, can anybody explain to me why a big group of students and their teachers came to Capsule Corporation?"

Gohan was exclaiming silently and triumphantly to himself, "_Yes! Yes! She doesn't know. It must be one of Trunk's pranks. Please, Dende, let her not see me and Erasa and let her send everyone home."_

He knew that Bulma didn't like unexpected guests unless it was her friends whom she considered her family. It didn't matter if it was everyone on the planet demanding to go inside Capsule Corporation - if they didn't make appointments she would shoo them away like the plague.

However, Dende was still on a vacation in the Bahamas and Popo knew better not to mess with fate. And so, just right about that moment, the elevator doors opened and a short man with gravity defying hair longer than Gohan's came out.

"Oi, Kakabrat! You've been visiting more often than never lately, but aren't you forgetting about coming to see me?" he shouted across the room loudly. He had felt the teen's _ki _among a group of weaklings' _ki's _and so he decided to come out from his training and see what was going on.

And just like that, Gohan let out a small "Yikes!" which Bulma didn't miss.

"Gohan! Why didn't you tell me you were with the group? Come here and give your Godmother a hug."

Gohan walked slowly in a daze towards Bulma and gave her a small hug, which started murmurs among the students and even between Ms. Mademoiselle and Mr. Neggerschwarz!

"What? The nerd know THE Bulma Briefs?"

"…not surprised. He's a nerd after all…"

"…who is that short man? Why is he so rude to Ms. Briefs?"

People didn't know that Bulma had already married and so, there was much discussion while Bulma talked to Gohan.

"I'm talking to the boy, woman!" Vegeta demanded. "Keep treating him like that and he's going to go soft," he pulled Gohan by the biceps and said, "You're coming with me, brat. We're going to have a nice spar. Oh, yes."

The males in the room couldn't suppress a snigger as they thought, _"Spar? Gohan the nerd? He must be joking."_

Bulma scowled and shouted at her husband, "Vegeta, if you ignore me and do as you want, I won't cook you dinner and I'll _accidentally _break the G.R.!"

Vegeta stopped in his tracks and looked at his wife with a glare.

"You wouldn't."

Bulma folded her arms and huffed, "Oh yes, I would. So why don't you leave us alone for a moment while I sort this mess out?"

Vegeta weighed down his options. He could defy Bulma and get a satisfying sparring session with Kakarot's brat. He hadn't had a good fight in a while and all he had done in the past seven years was train in the Gravity Room and teach his and the woman's brat, who couldn't even hit him, how to fight. Defying Bulma was definitely an appealing choice, but his reason and his stomach told him that it would be a choice that he would regret later on if the woman broke the Gravity Room or didn't feed him food. He hated to admit it but it was Bulma's cooking that made him fall in love with her in the first place and now that he had it everyday he wondered how he could have lived without it during those years that he colonised planets. Therefore, he gave in and let go of Gohan's bicep and walked away with a 'humph!'.

"I want good food tonight, you hear me?" he said, red with embarrassment at having to concede.

Bulma smiled. Vegeta was easy control this way.

"Yes, dear. All your favourites."

And with that, Vegeta used the elevator to go down to the Basement and vent his fury by training at the Gravity Room.

"Vegeta doesn't change, does he?" Gohan said.

"Hm, no, he doesn't," laughed Bulma.

Who was that man to talk to the most influential woman in the world like that?! And who is Son Gohan to talk to Bulma Briefs so casually?!

These thoughts ran in the students' and the teachers' heads, though Bulma had already given them the answer early in the conversation.

"In any case, since you're here, Erasa must be here," Bulma said matter-of-factly. "Where are you, dear? Come here and say 'hi'."

Erasa blushed and made her way across the students towards Bulma, which, again, got more murmurs between the students.

"Erasa too?"

"What the hell is going on?"

Bulma ignored the murmurs though she could hear them, and went to hug the blonde girl.

"It's so good to see you. How have you been?"

"I'm g-good, th-thank you," Erasa blushed. She was used to being the centre of attention, but this was a completely different situation where she would be more than happy to hide herself under a rock somewhere and call herself 'Patrick'.

Sensing the young girl's embarrassment, Bulma went straight to the point so that she wouldn't attract more attention than she already had to both her Godson and the blonde girl.

"That's good to hear. Right, now back to where I was, what is your class doing here?"

"Well, we're supposed to be on a field trip."

"Field trip? I've never invited Orange Star High School for a field trip."

Bulma looked at Ms. Secretary with a questioning look.

"You called and instructed me to book them for a surprise field trip last month, Ma'am. You told me to inform them only the day before."

Catching on immediately, Bulma shouted so loud that everyone in the room's eardrums' rang.

"TRUNKS!"

* * *

_End of Chapter Twelve_

_To be continued..._


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Trunks again!

**Chapter Thirteen: Trunks; again!**

Chapter Notes: -

* * *

"Hey, how do you think Erasa and Gohan know THE Bulma Briefs?"

"That's what you're wondering about? I'm more curious as to why I didn't hear of Bulma Briefs getting married and having a kid!"

"I think that the kid isn't hers."

"Probably the child of the spiky haired man from another woman. I mean, I don't even know why she would like him! He's probably blackmailing her or something."

As the students made their way towards their designated rooms, the girls couldn't help gossipping. Many of the women idolised Bulma Briefs and followed her every venture. In fact, many of them wished that they could also become as successful as her! Sadly, that would only remain a distant dream seeing that none of them were actually working hard towards that goal and, instead, they were simply wasting their time away talking about idle gossip.

Much to Lime's and Videl's dismay, they were both required to share a room together. Big as Capsule Corporation was, the visit was both unprepared for - and Bulma didn't want these unexpected teenagers frolicking around her house and causing unnecessary trouble. She really disliked having people other than her personal, close friends coming over, especially when it was unannounced, but, she also had to hold up a public image as a generous woman. She could imagine the press flocking her front door, pestering her, if she denied the big group of school children entry after "inviting" them.

Of course, she could simply tell the paparazzi that it was her son's idea of a prank, but that would mean revealing that she had already married and had a son. And so, she made a deal with the students that none of them speak of finding out about her personal life in exchange for letting them stay and get their field trip over with.

However, she was sure that some loud mouths would disclose the information to the public anyway, and so she thought up a plan to keep their silence. For now, she planned to make their stay to a bare minimum of comfort. Nothing more, nothing less. That meant getting two people of the same gender to share a room and having three meals a day. Nothing luxurious.

Growing up as part of a rich family, she thought that what she was giving them was a bare minimum. She didn't know that the room she was making two people share was as large as a penthouse apartment and that the meals she will later provide them would be equivalent to a feast!

Laying her head down on the pink, duck feather stuffed pillows, Lime mentally kicked herself for doing something so brazen. She blamed it on her lack of sleep that caused her thinking to be clouded. She hoped that Gohan would still talk to her after what she did though she highly doubted the chances of that happening.

All of a sudden, a loud ringing startled the two hot-blooded teens.

As Lime's head turned to the direction of the source of the noise, Videl found herself picking up the in-built phone in the room.

"Videl Satan speaking."

There was a brief exchange of words before Videl reluctantly forced herself to talk to Lime by holding out the phone to her, saying, "It's for you."

She didn't really like the idea of talking to the brown-haired girl since she didn't feel ready to talk to her yet, so her face wore the usual scowl that she normally gave Gohan as Lime walked over and took the phone from her.

"Hello, yes?" Lime enquired, wondering why anyone would call her and, more importantly, _how_ they knew where to call her. She didn't remember telling anyone other than her landlady about her field trip.

In an instant, Lime's face turned grim and tears started streaking down her face. She was hyperventilating and she cupped her hand to cover her mouth in horror. Nodding and making 'mmm' sounds at certain intervals, she thanked the person on the other end of the phone politely and put the phone down.

Videl still felt embarrassed about her defeat to Lime a few weeks back. She thought that her pride was shattered but it wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't so haughty to begin with. She didn't want to talk to Lime until she felt ready to either apologise or challenge her again to regain back her pride but, seeing the teen's vulnerable side right now made Videl stop and think. Why did Lime hate her and her father so much in the first place? She wondered. She never paused to consider the reason and, if she could, she would go back in time before they fought to find out. If the reason behind her hatred was justifiable,she contemplated the thought of apologising and doing her best to make it up to her and try and become her friend. However, the damage had been done. She couldn't take back her pride and she was too embarrassed to talk to Lime and so she unconsciously converted this embarrassment into more hatred for the girl. But Videl is a very determined woman. Once she had decided on something, her mindset would be on fast-track and it would be very hard to change her mind otherwise.

Sounding as if she was stepping on dangerous ice in a lake, Videl spoke.

"Hey Lime?"

Lime who had started gathering her bags didn't turn her head towards Videl, but acknowledged with a shaky "Yeah?"

"What happened?"

Feeling that Videl was sounding so out of character yet genuinely wanting to know what happened, Lime couldn't believe her ears so she turned to face Videl. Why did she want to know? She wondered. She probably would laugh at her predicament if she did.

"Something."

"I can see that," Videl said sarcastically. "I'm just trying to help, you know?"

Lime looked at Videl straight into the eyes trying to figure her out but, in a whirlwind of emotions, she started crying. It was controlled at first, but slowly, her sniffles turned into a full blown howling. She was strong. In Chazke Village, she was always wary of people betraying her as it had happened so many times. People always made fun of her and Mr. Lao whenever they tried to reason out that it wasn't Mr. Satan who had defeated Cell. Throughout her life, people tried to befriend her only to betray and make fun of her in the end so she wasn't used to being treated kindly anymore but, at this point in time, she found that something happened to her only pillar of support, so she broke down when Videl tried to offer a listening shoulder.

Videl was confused. She was embarrassed at the girl for beating her. She was angry at her for calling her and her father a phony and - she also felt sorry for the girl.

She was Videl Satan! Defender of the weak and justice! No matter how much she disliked Lime, she couldn't go against her natural instinct of helping the weak and so she found herself walking towards Lime and giving her a hug.

Rubbing her back consolingly, she said kindly, "There, there. It's going to be alright."

It took a few more minutes for Lime to calm down after which she stood up, took her belongings and headed out for the door.

"Where are you going?" Videl wondered.

"Listen, I- um…" Lime felt embarrassed at being consoled by the person that she considered her rival, but she was a grateful girl - Mr. Lao had taught her well, so she bowed slightly and said, "Thanks for everything, but I have to go. Something came up," before she left in a hurry.

She was headed for the Satan City General Hospital.

* * *

Trunks sat in front of his mother in her office with a sullen expression.

He had totally forgotten about his little prank and now he was paying for it. Unlike his father, the young boy wasn't scared of his food being cut neither was he scared of the Gravity Room "accidentally" breaking. He was just a mischievous child (like most kids are) and he feared nothing, but he did feel annoyed at having to sit through his mother's boring lectures which went on for hours.

To him, all he could hear was "Blah blah blah, what were you thinking? Blah blah blah, now I have to deal with this mess, blah blah blah."

At every interval, he would try to excuse himself with a "That's great, mum, but can I go now?" from which Bulma found herself shouting, "Sit down! I'm not done with you yet, young man!"

And so, Trunks sat himself down and powered his genius brain down to neutral. He would even daydream in between and drool until one of the daydreams he had gave him a brilliant idea. Smirking mischievously, Trunks sat through the rest of Bulma's lecture feeling considerably better. After all, more fun was coming his way.

* * *

It was afternoon by the time Bulma finished lecturing Trunks. Dismissing her purple-haired son, she sat in her office coming up with a schedule for the rest of the students' trip. The first day was almost over and, according to herself, the third day would definitely be reserved for rest and relaxation, which left only the second day for actually doing something useful.

She had to make it count and worthy of ten percent of the students' final grade and so she carefully scribbled down: "Day 2 - Students Visit the Lab and help come up with a new technological design".

Whether or not the students could come up with something was none of her business. She just wanted to keep the teens busy for the rest of the day and keep them out from roaming around her house.

As soon as she was done, she left for a short break.

While his mother left to do something, Trunks immediately used his super speed to enter Bulma's office unseen. He had every bit of his mother's genius so it wasn't hard to figure out the pass-code for the security locked doors. As soon as he did, he walked straight towards her desk and took the piece of paper that she was working on. Grinning widely, he swapped it with a different piece of paper that had similar handwriting. He had learnt to forge her handwriting early on and he thanked Dende that his mother had a handwriting that wasn't hard to master.

Things were gonna be more interesting, he thought. Talking to himself, he said aloud, "Man, I wish Goten was here to see this."

* * *

Night time had fallen and everyone gathered themselves around a very long, rectangular table. Dinner was being prepared and, fortunately, Trunks and Vegeta weren't there to join the students. Bulma decided that it would be best for them to be served food in the Gravity Room.

She made the robots cook everything and the students found that there was too much to eat!

Fortunately, there was one who thought that it was just enough otherwise the food would have been a waste. Sitting in between Erasa and Videl, Gohan gobbled everything up like a vacuum cleaner. His hands were flying left and right, grabbing whatever he could get his hands on and shoving it in his mouth. He was enjoying his meal when he noticed something.

"Rhey, rer ris Rime?"

He swallowed the food in his mouth and asked again, "Hey, where's Lime?"

He hadn't forgotten about the incident that morning, but it didn't really bother him. She was a friend to him - though he was slowly discovering what feelings towards a person of a different sex means.

Videl, who shared a room with Lime said, "She left. Said she had something important to do."

"Oh. Well, alright then," and he continued eating.

However, Videl wasn't done with him yet. Adapting an 'I-suspect-you' tone, she said, "So Gohan, how come you know Bulma Briefs?"

Gohan choked on the salmon that he was chewing, for which Videl thumped his back.

All of a sudden, Videl found herself thinking, "_He has such a nice, muscular back."_

Mentally shaking the thought off as blood rushed to her face, she wondered to herself, "_What's going on with me?"_

Something had changed with her since the first time Gohan consoled her in the school's infirmary, but she didn't really notice it since it was so subtle. Still, once, during the time after she gave Gohan the Valentine's Day chocolates, she found herself wondering what it would be like to be Gohan's girlfriend. Whatever was going to her, it wasn't good in her books, so she forced the recurring thought out of her mind and concentrated on interrogating Gohan.

"_Oh man, she hasn't been asking me all these questions lately. I put my guard down!" _Gohan panicked.

"Um… well… uh… you see-"

"Stop coming up with an excuse, Gohan. I know you're about to lie."

"Well, let's see… uh… Bulma's my Godmother. Isn't that right, Erasa?"

"Why would you ask Erasa?"

"_Crap!" _he thought. He gave himself away! Looking towards Erasa for support, Gohan cursed himself as he sweated profusely.

Videl gave Gohan and her best friend a suspecting look.

"That's right. And how do YOU know Bulma Briefs, Erasa?"

"Um, well…"

"Whatever. I know both of you are hiding something and I'll find out what it is," she said before storming off to her room.

* * *

After dinner, Gohan found a group of boys loitering around the women's bath.

"Hey, what's up, guys? What are you up to?"

One of the boys glared at him and, in a hushed tone, angrily shot, "Clamp it, nerd!"

Then, an idea came to him. Moving closer to Gohan, he caught the unsuspecting teen's neck in between his forearm and biceps.

"Say, don't you want to supplement your knowledge about the female body? I'm pretty sure there's only so much a science book can teach you. How about it? Want to join us?"

Eager to learn more about anything, Gohan naively agreed much to the wicked delight of the group of boys. After all, if they ever got caught, they could simply blame the stupid nerd.

And so, Gohan moved along with the rest of the group into the male baths after which they tried to silently stand on whatever elevation they could find to peek at the girls bathing.

The sight reminded Gohan of the scene that morning and, though he had covered his eyes before, what the group of boys told him made sense to him. There was nothing to be embarrassed about when seeing these things when it came from a, er, _scientific_ point of view.

He was making exclamations such as "Ohh! I see, so those are the aureoles. And those must be the nipples. I read somewhere about how they produce milk. Hey, did you know that women's breasts are actually made up mostly of fat?"

Hearing him talk made the experience less enjoyable for the group of boys to the point that one of them even forgot what they were doing and shouted, "Gohan, shut up!"

Unfortunately for the group (and Gohan) Videl had a feeling that this might happen so she remained fully clothed and stood guard. She didn't understand why her classmates insisted on using the large bath when they could have enjoyed a similar bath in a bathtub in-built in their rooms.

Jumping over the wall, she folded her arms and scowled at Gohan and the boys.

"So, peeking, huh?"

The boys entered a state of panic. Though they had prepared an escape plan if they got caught, now that they were caught, their minds froze and they started running away at random directions screaming, "It was all Gohan's idea!"

Videl let the boys go. She could deal with them later. Gohan on the other hand was a different case. Somehow, the half-Saiyan just stood there motionless without a clue of what was going on.

"Alright, explain," she commanded.

"Well, we were just supplementing our knowledge about the female body, Videl. Honest!"

"You seriously think I'm a fool, Gohan?"

"Yes, I mean NO! I mean…"

"You know, you're a really bad liar. You stutter when you're about to lie, so I know that you're not lying in this case."

She paused for a second thinking of a way to take advantage of the situation. Should she blackmail him into answering truthfully about his secrets? No, she reasoned out that Gohan would still lie. How about making him tell her about his family and why he knows Bulma Briefs? No, he could still lie about that. That's it! She could put him in a situation where it's just him and her where he would be forced to stay and she could slowly coerce him into confessing his secrets.

"Still, Gohan, you know it's not nice to be peeking on girls. I mean, what would your mother say?"

"Oh, that's easy. I'll tell her that I was studying," Gohan said confidently. Knowing his mother, she would listen to anything he says as long as it involved his studies.

"Oh really? I suppose your mother will believe how you were studying BY PEEKING AT GIRLS."

Gohan thought about it and he came to the conclusion that Videl was right.

"Ah no! Please don't tell my mother."

Videl grinned. This was easier than she thought.

"Oh, I won't. As long as you meet me in front of the cinema the day after the field trip, that is."

"Uh… aaaaah-"

"Great. That's a yes then. I'll see you then. Don't run away or I'll tell your mother," Videl said wickedly.

As Videl left, Gohan was cursing his luck - and Dende. In his mind, he wasn't worried about seeing Videl. He was more worried that two people (excluding Erasa) now knew of his secret and both of them were asking to see him on the same day. What was he going to do?

While Gohan worried about these things, Videl smiled happily to herself as she walked back to her room for a nice hot bath. She's got Gohan now.

"_But wait. Just because I have him now doesn't mean I should be complacent about it. I have to find out more."_

And with that conclusion, Videl decided to do some snooping around Capsule Corporation after her bath. It didn't occur to her that she had just practically asked Gohan out on a date.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to both Gohan and Videl, Trunks was there to watch the whole ordeal of Gohan getting caught.

Being young didn't stop him from criticising Gohan in his mind.

"Man, if I was Gohan, I would do something about that bossy girl."

And so Trunks, who felt that it was his obligation to 'help' his best friend's older brother, decided to deal with Videl.

After she finished her bath, Videl found a red card slipped into her room. She wondered who put the card there and was initially suspicious of it. However, curiosity got the better of her. It could be a trap, but from what she heard from Ms. Secretary earlier during the tour, the most secret parts of Capsule Corporation was the 2nd Floor and the Basement and that they can only be accessed via a red card.

Remembering that the 2nd Floor was the family quarters, Videl thought that she should begin by accessing and snooping around the Basement. If Gohan knew THE Bulma Briefs, she must have some file about him somewhere. And so, she descended into the Basement and swiped the red card onto the slot.

The doors looked like they were made of metal, but Videl felt that it was made out of something else. It felt _alien_ to her, but she couldn't explain why. In any case, finding out about what the doors were made of was not important. She was here on a mission where she was in danger of potentially being caught.

Ninja-ing her way through the corridors, she finally saw a room.

"Whew, that was a long walk from the entrance. So this is the first room in the Basement, huh? G.R., I wonder what that means?"

Deciding to take a look for herself, she swiped the card again to gain entry. The doors parted open and she entered.

* * *

**A/N: **Hey guys, sorry for the slow updates. I've been busy lately with balancing writing reports on mechanical systems and oil rigs for college, writing this, and writing a One Piece fanfiction, which, I took it down by the way and am currently revising. I'll post it up when I have time. Those, and playing Archeage Alpha and Dota 2. Seriously, I think I'm addicted D:

Um, forget that last part :P For now, I just want to say thank you to everyone who's been with me so far. It's great to have you all reading this story and I hope to receive more of patience. I've never actually written a romance story before and I'm not very good at imagining things from a girl's point of view so I'm drawing blanks, pulling thunderbolts - I mean, female thoughts for Videl, Erasa and Lime on how they gradually fall in love with Gohan - out of my ass and getting writer's block whenever I write that part of it. I seriously don't know how women fall in love so you'll have to forgive me if the progression of Videl falling in love with Gohan is wrong. I would really appreciate input on that part.

In any case, good news! I've finally reached 100 followers! It's a milestone for me :') I hope you keep reading and reviewing. Thanks a lot and see you all next chapter! :)

* * *

_End of Chapter Thirteen  
_

_To be continued...  
_


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Recovery

**Chapter Fourteen: Recovery  
**

Chapter Notes: -

* * *

There was a new patient at the hospital.

Sharpner, who couldn't stand old people, couldn't help but feel irritated. Why the hell was the old man placed in his ward anyway? Didn't his parents pay extra money for him to stay in a private hospital room?

He tried bearing hearing the new patient's coughs, but finally he snapped.

As Mr. Lao wheezed and coughed, tears streaked down his eyes. The door opened and there was a streak of brown that flew past and hugged him tightly.

"Grandpa! Thank God you're okay."

Lime dashed to Satan City General Hospital as soon as she could when she heard of her grandfather's predicament. As soon as she saw him, she burst into tears of joy seeing that he looked alright. He looked slightly under the weather, but he looked like he was on the road to recovery. Now she only needed to worry about the money to pay for the hospital bills, but she can worry about that later. For now she was glad that her grandfather was alive.

There was a loud ruffling sound where someone pulled the separators wide open.

"Would you shut up!?" a blonde, long-haired, muscular teen shouted irritably. "You're disturbing my pea-"

Then he stopped when he saw Lime. His heart started beating faster and he entered a daze. God, she was gorgeous! Sharpner had fallen in love at first sight! Sadly, a sharp stinging sensation and an empty feeling like something was missing between his legs reminded him that things were not the same as they were before.

Still, Sharpner knew that he had fallen in love at first sight. He previously had his eyes on Videl (though he still dated many girls on the side) but now that he had been rejected, the first beautiful girl that he saw made him go head-over-heels in love. It was goodbye tomboy and hello brunette beauty.

Puffing up his chest and tensing his muscles to make them look bigger, he took the get-well-soon flower bouquet that he had gotten from his female admirers and he put them near his nose, pretending to smell them and enjoy their fragrance. He combed his long hair backwards with his fingers and said coolly, "Ah, spring has come. What a wonderful time to fall in love, isn't it?"

Now Lime was not used to being hit on by guys. She was beautiful, yes, but the guys in Chazke Village ostracised her for not believing in Mr. Satan. Instead of blushing and falling into the strange blonde's pace, her mouth just fell open and the first sound it made was, "Huh?"

Turning to her grandfather, she said loudly and insensitively, "Did they place you in the wrong ward, grandpa? It looks like this place is reserved for mentally ill patients."

"Gah, no wait!" Sharpner begged. "I just wanted to become your friend - boyfriend," he winked.

Lime snorted (which Sharpner found incredibly cute). She snorted and then laughed so hard that she clutched her stomach.

"Certainly didn't sound like you wanted to be friends when you shouted just now."

She knew by now, through instinct, that the random blonde stranger sharing a ward with her grandfather was trying to flirt with her. The thought of it disgusted her, especially when she could see from his body that he was just a show-off. She sensed his _ki_ and knew that he was extremely weak and that his muscles were just for show. Hitting the gym and lifting weights repetitively while consuming protein drinks was a simple way to bulk up and look buff. And she knew that the blonde teen was one of those people.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sharpner said, still trying to sound cool. He didn't sound sorry at all, which Lime could tell. "But I really just wanted to know you. I was so excited that I shouted."

"_Yeah, right,"_ Lime rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, the name's Sharpner," he held out his hand.

Lime took the hand and shook it. She disliked the guy, but she was taught to be polite by her grandfather. She grasped the hand and Sharpner let out a small 'eep!' How strong was this girl? He thought. She was so strong that she was unconsciously crushing his hand through a simple handshake!

Contrary to what Sharpner was thinking, Lime was only applying a small amount of strength for a 'proper' handshake. Lime smiled and Sharpner felt his heart melt.

"Lime," she replied back politely. Then she added just in case, "Just so you know, I have a fiance."

That felt to Sharpner as if a bomb had been dropped in the area. His heart in shatters, he croaked weakly, "I-I see. Does he treat you well?"

"Yeah, after all, he's the Golden Fighter," Lime declared proudly, wanting to spite the narcissistic brute.

Sharpner's eyes turned sharp and dark. It was the same person that Videl was so obsessed about. Who was this person to steal all of "my" women? He thought. Never mind not having baby-makers. He still had his tongue, fingers and various toys up his arsenal to make up for his loss. What he really needed to do now was to deal with this Golden Warrior. He was sure that he could defeat the visored hero and humiliate him publicly. After all, he was Mr. Satan's - saviour of the earth, defeater of Cell - star pupil.

And so, after a month in the hospital, Sharpner finally recovered from his trauma and now had a new goal. First, he would deal with the Golden Warrior. Then, he would beat the girl who made him lose his precious gems into submission. Finally, he would make this new girl, Lime, his.

* * *

Trunks stood at the entrance of the 2nd Floor of Capsule Corporation.

He glanced periodically at the wall clock and smiled evilly. Well, it looks like the annoying girl wasn't coming to the 2nd Floor, he thought. He wasn't disappointed though. That means she must have gone down to the Basement!

He immediately left his waiting spot and dashed towards the surveillance room.

He had calculated everything from the beginning. His genius brain had predicted (correctly) that Videl was a person who would earnest and would not hesitate to snoop around to find out about Gohan's secrets if she was given the chance to. He knew instantly, though he had only seen her character from afar for only a few seconds. Knowing this, he eliminated all the options and gave her a little push.

Sending a red access card to her room, he knew that her curiosity would lead her to take one of the two options. She could have either gone up to the 2nd Floor and tried looking for Gohan's room and gone through his stuff to find out clues about him. Or she could have gone to the Basement. Either way was a win situation for Trunks. If she went to the 2nd Floor, he would intercept her and play non-stop pranks on her. If she went to the Basement, he had his popcorn and soft drinks ready for a night of hilarious entertainment where he will watch her as her own curiosity would lead her to the Gravity Room and 'accidentally' meet Vegeta.

"_This is going to be fun to watch," _he thought.

Putting on some shades, he put the surveillance camera in the Gravity Room up on the main, large screen. His mother had this installed recently so she could monitor whether or not Vegeta was going to destroy something again. Then he realised that his father wasn't there.

"Huh? Where did dad go?" he wondered.

Man, he might have to improvise.

* * *

What Trunks didn't know was that the Gravity Room was broken (yet again by yours truly).

Vegeta left the Gravity Room in search for his wife so Videl had no trouble entering the room. She was however, in for a rude shock.

As she walked along the room, tiptoeing in case someone was in there and could discover her, she found large puddles of liquid all over the place. She took a fair bit of time trying to avoid the puddles so that she won't leave her shoe-prints all over the place and finally, she arrived at the centre of the room.

"_Whew, I wonder what those puddles were? They smelled strongly of sweat, but who would sweat so much like that? What in the world is this room for?"_

So many questions flooded her brain that it hurt just thinking about it.

While she wondered what the initials G.R. stood for, she looked curiously at the monitor in built into a large pillar in the middle of the room. Could it possibly be a mainframe computer that contained all the data in Capsule Corporation? It was possible. After all, this was a level accessible only to the Briefs Family.

She walked closer towards the computer and noted that it only had numbers on it in increments of two, ten, twenty-five, fifty, a hundred, a hundred and fifty, and so on all the way up to five hundred.

"That's strange. What kind of computer would be so big only to have these few buttons?" she wondered aloud.

Perhaps it was a panel for people to key in a password before the main keyboard and computer would be activated.

Not wanting to leave her fingerprints on the keypad or make an error in entering the wrong keystrokes, Videl backed off from the computer and was about to leave for another room when the machine fizzed alive slightly with electricity. The sound was so inaudible that Videl didn't notice it. She was about a third of her way out when she felt something.

"_Is it just me or is my body feeling very heavy?"_

In fact, the Gravity Generator in the machine had malfunctioned due to Vegeta's overuse so every now and then, the machine would crackle to life and generate random values of gravity. When Videl entered, it was running at 1.2x of Earth's gravity so she didn't notice the addition to her weight. When she was leaving, the machine fizzed and ran a simulation of 1.5x of Earth's gravity which was just enough for Videl to start noticing and feeling heavy. Suddenly, the machine went wild and crackled loudly, cranking up the gravity to 3x of Earth's gravity.

Videl definitely felt it now. She was struggling to move her limbs as she forced herself to walk towards the entrance.

Gritting her teeth, she refused to be beaten by the strange phenomenon.

"Grrr… What… is… going… on?!" she said through gritted teeth with every step that she took.

She was about halfway through now when the machine jumped to 10x of Earth's gravity. It was too much! She now weighed 500 kilos! Her body got pulled towards the ground where she just lay there in a heap. She was slightly teary from the pain created by the pressure being exerted on her body, but she refused to cry. Was she going to die here? No, she can't! She still had to beat her father and make him stop being a womaniser.

Thinking like this, she decided that now was not the time to worry about being caught so she decided to shout out as loud as she could, "HELP!"

Thankfully, the Gravity Generator had stabilised for now so Videl was fortunate that she didn't get crushed under even more extreme pressures, so she lay on the ground on her stomach crying out for help until her voice became hoarse.

Meanwhile, Trunks had missed out on all of the fun. He was in the 2nd Floor trying to search for his father. His plan was to let Videl gain access to the Basement and accidentally encounter Vegeta in the Gravity Room. He knew that his father would get so mad at the girl for entering the family's private quarters that he would end up either incinerating her with a _ki_ blast or toy with her. He knew that it would be entertaining because from what he's seen, the girl had a personality that won't back down so she would fight Vegeta and argue back.

However, his father was nowhere to be seen! He decided to search for his father's _ki_ instead and he immediately discovered that Vegeta was making his way towards the Gravity Room. However, it wasn't only Vegeta that was going there.

He sensed that Gohan too was nearing the Gravity Room.

His father had probably dragged Gohan out of his room for a spar. This was not going to be good.

* * *

While Videl was suffering alone, trapped in the Gravity Room, Vegeta held Gohan by the collar and was dragging him viciously against his own will out of bed.

"You will train with me, Kakabrat," he began. "You've grown too soft and weak over the years," he spat.

Truth be told, he felt that it was a chore to train Gohan, but his Saiyan blood and pride rejected the notion of beating the boy when he was in such a sorry state. What glory would it bring him? Nothing.

First, he will train the stupid half-earthling back to his former state. Only then will he feel a sense of achievement in beating him. He wanted to become the strongest warrior in the universe! At the moment, the strongest one in the universe was, he hated to admit it, Gohan - at his finest when he beat Cell, of course.

But all of that was about to change, he smirked. He had been training hard for seven years while the brat was spending all his time studying. He was confident that even if Gohan went back to his former state of strength, he was still going to win.

"Hey, Vegeta, wait! We're going to blow up the whole Capsule Corporation if we spar!"

Vegeta laughed. "In your current state? You make me laugh, boy. Besides, you're too weak to spar with me right now. We're going to train you back to your current state first. Then we'll talk about sparring."

Now Gohan felt offended. He hadn't been idling around in the past seven years. Well, okay, maybe he had, but he was now the Great Saiyaman! Protector of truth, defender of justice! He was no way _that_ weak.

They entered the Gravity Room not noticing the subtle change in the earth's gravitational pull. After all, 10x of earth's gravity was the normal gravity in Planet Vegeta so it felt like normal to Vegeta (as well as Gohan). As soon as they entered the room, Vegeta immediately sensed a weak _ki_ present in the room which Gohan sensed a bit later. He was rusty from keeping his _ki_ suppressed all the time in school.

"Oh look, what do we have here?" Vegeta said sarcastically.

He picked up Videl by the hair and lifted her head up.

"Well if it isn't Videl Satan. Daughter of the man who saved the world from Cell." he mocked.

Vegeta, though he never admitted it, loved watching TV - specifically Bulma's soaps.

While he was working as a space pirate under Freeza, he was exposed to monitor screens that displayed maps and information about his and Nappa's targets. He also knew that these were used to monitor his vital signs when he was in the healing solution tanks. However, he had never seen people acting on the screen and, on the first night that he spent with Bulma, he blasted the box down with a _ki_ blast making her very cross with him indeed.

"What sorcery is this?!" he screamed at her at that time.

It was the same reaction he had when she used a DynoCap to set up a temporary home for him after he was defeated by Goku and had nowhere else to go. Advanced as technology was outside earth, the DynoCaps was something that was a remarkable genius by Dr. Briefs and, while Saiyans knew how to produce _ki_ blasts, magic was a completely different and unwelcome notion to them.

(**A/N:** In the Dragon Ball Universe, _ki_ and magic are two different things. The Saiyans use _ki_ while Bibidi and Babadi used magic.)

It took a while for Bulma to explain to him but he eventually (and secretly) fell in love with watching soap operas such that the large monitor inside the Gravity Room played his favourite programs on while he was busy training. Dende knows how many times he's replayed 'Coronation Street' and whatever else he watches in the last seven years while training inside the Gravity Room.

It was through his little pleasure that he saw frequent commercial ads about Mark Satan. It was also through this that he watched passively while training; news broadcasts of Videl Satan, Mr. Satan's daughter, fighting crime every morning.

Gohan immediately rushed towards Videl's side and grabbed her from Vegeta. Slapping her lightly on the cheek to make sure she was still alive, he said in a panicked tone, "Videl, Videl! Are you alright?"

Videl had heard Vegeta's words though her eyes were closed and she felt anger rising in her chest. Forcing her eyes open and with great difficulty, moving her head to face Vegeta, she said haughtily, "That's right. Want an autograph?"

Seriously, what was wrong with the new people she was meeting these days? Ever since Gohan joined school, it was as if everyone new that she met had a grudge against her and her father. It was her father who saved them from Cell, for God's sake!

Vegeta didn't find her reply in the least bit funny so his mocking smirk turned into a frown.

"And why would I want to get the autograph of that weakling's daughter?"

Despite the heavy weight and pressure that she was feeling, Videl still managed to argue with Vegeta.

"What do you mean weak? My dad's the strongest person in the world! He can probably kick your ass. Heck, scratch that, I probably can."

"Oh is that right? That's funny because I'm not the one who collapsed under a mere 10x of earth's gravity."

"Vegeta, please," Gohan cut in and pleaded. "She's not in a good state right now."

Normally, Gohan would have already left and given Videl some first aid (he knew how precious senzu beans were) if not for Vegeta still grabbing hold of Videl's hair.

"I don't care what state this woman's in. If she has the gall to talk to me like this, she can bloody well fight me back and prove it."

Videl clung on to Gohan's chest and forced herself upright.

"B-bring it on… *huff* baldy!"

"I AM NOT BALD! It's called a receding hairline!" Vegeta shouted indignantly.

Sensing the danger of Vegeta's anger going out of control, Gohan decided to produce a small _ki_ energy to come out on the tip of his fingers and cut free Videl's hair which Vegeta was still holding on to.

"Sorry Vegeta, but I guess me and Videl have to go," Gohan tried his best to give Vegeta a childish grin, a drop of sweat dripping down from his temple, before leaving saying, "Gotta boogie!"

And with that, Gohan left carrying Videl in his arms while Vegeta blasted the walls of the Gravity Room in anger, shouting, "COME BACK HERE! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET, KAKABRAT!"

* * *

Thankfully for Gohan, Vegeta decided that it was not worth the effort to chase after him and Videl. He had other chances to 'educate' the boy.

Without running out of breath, Gohan decided that the closest place for him to bring Videl without being seen by the other students was in Erasa's room. Giving the pink door a light knock, Gohan waited.

Erasa was enjoying the spacious room. She didn't want to sound ungrateful, but the room that she used at the Son Residence, big as the bed was since it was specially prepared for the Ox-King, was nothing compared to the size of this room. In fact, her own room at the Eraser household was tiny and was nothing compared to this!

Still, she didn't regret not living with Bulma instead. She was happy with being around Gohan and she was taking a long hot bath, mulling over her plans to win Gohan over when she heard the knocks on the door.

Wondering who it was, Erasa towelled herself dry and cautiously opened the door just by a crack. Then, seeing as if she'd seen a ghost, she couldn't hide the alarm and panic in her face when she saw Gohan carrying her best friend's limp body.

She may be competing with Videl and Lime for Gohan's affection, but that didn't mean that she had to be a bitch and change her attitude completely. She still considered herself as Videl's and Lime's best friend and she put that friendship first before her affection for Gohan on this occasion.

Not turning jealous at watching Gohan looking so worried and caring for Videl, she asked him, "What happened?"

"I don't know. I found her at the Gravity Room collapsed so I brought her here," Gohan said worriedly.

"I see," Erasa replied back calmly. Seeing that it wasn't as serious as she thought, she asked a less important question. "But what happened to her hair? It's become so short!"

"It's a long story. Look, Erasa, would you mind calling Bulma over? She can help us and tell us what to do. I think she's in her office."

Erasa nodded quickly. She cared a lot about her friend so she didn't even have to think twice, though she didn't exactly know where Bulma's office was.

As soon as she left, Gohan tended to Videl. He panicked at first when he saw her lying in a heap, but now that he had a small breather, he realised that the girl was far from being in grave danger. Videl was just tired from over-exerting her body to move at 10x of earth's gravitational pull. All of her muscles ached and some of them even tore from the strain, but that was about it. She will live. Just that she will be in pain from over-exertion and muscle tears for a day or two, or a week at most.

Gohan was just about to leave to get himself a drink when Videl's hand shot out and locked fingers with his.

_"Wow, it's so small, soft and warm. Are all girls this fragile?"_

It had been a long time since he held a girl's hand and the last time that he did was when he was still a child with Chichi. However, his mother's hand had more strength than Videl's and was less fragile, so this was the first time he actually thought about it.

Forcing herself again, Videl croaked weakly, "Gohan?"

"Ah! Y-yes, Videl?"

Gohan felt awkward, embarrassed and weird - even guilty. Why did that thought enter his brain? He didn't know. All he knew was that he was thinking about something that he normally wouldn't and it made him feel guilty that it involved Videl in it.

Videl managed a weak smile. "Thank you, for back then."

Gohan didn't know why, but the fragile girl's smile made him smile too. It was a different smile from what he normally gave other people. This smile felt like it meant something else, but he didn't know what.

Videl, feeling satisfied that she had thanked her rescuer, fell into a peaceful sleep at last, but not before unconsciously saying, "Don't leave my side, okay?"

Gohan felt his heart beat go faster and he was blushing red as he scratched his cheek with his index finger, "Ah, yeah. Of course I won't."

Fortunately or unfortunately, Videl would forget ever saying the latter part.

* * *

_End of Chapter Fourteen_

_To be continued..._


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